Evaluation the Quality of English and Persian Journals Approved by Commission for Accreditation and Improvement of Iranian Medical Journals (CAIMJ) in 2011: Successes and Challenges

The quality of the scientific journals is an index for scientific production of a country. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the quality of all approved the commission of medical journals published in Islamic Republic of Iran during 2011. This study was cross-sectional and all the approved Persian and English language medical journals published during 2011, in Islamic Republic of Iran were studied. A checklist was completed for each of the journals. Data were analyzed using X2, independent t test, one-way ANOVA and Fisher's exact test. Out of 212 evaluated journals 89 (41.98%) were in English and 123 (58.02%) were in Persian. Twenty seven English journals (38.6%) and 43 (61.4%) Persian journals had delayed publications. Overall, 89 journals (41.9%) were considered as type 1 journals. Seventy three point seven of grade 3 journals were published in Persian (28 journals). Most journals (176, 83%) were indexed in SID and least (23, 10.8%) in Pubmed. Only 48 journals (22.6%) had indicated a conflict of interest at the end of their articles. Compared to Persian journals, English language journals and monthly journals in comparison with semiannual journals had higher standards.