Assessing the Principle of Scientific Writing in Published Articles in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Publication of scientific articles nowadays is one of the important indexes of knowledge production. This index plays a key role for ranking in academia. The aim of this study was to assess the how academic staff in Shiraz Medical Sciences University considered the principle of scientific writing. In a cross-sectional study 200 published papers among 1104 paper registered to vice chancellor of research from 2002 to 2007 were selected with systematic random sampling method. Among 200 papers, 190 (95%) had corresponding author from faculty members. Twenty three percents (23%) of papers were in basic sciences field and 72% were in clinical field. In 19 (9.5%) of papers either an epidemiologists-biostatistician or social medicine specialists were coauthor. Forty five (22.5%) of published papers, consisted of descriptive studies and the rest were analytic studies. Maximum faults in descriptive studies were the missing of time interval stating (26%). In case-control studies, 59% of papers had not stated diagnosis criteria and disease definitions. In cohort studies and clinical trials, 90% and 85% of papers had not expressed the number of missed patients during study, respectively. With regards to findings of this study, scientific writing and research methodology short course as continuing development professional for academic staff should be emphasized in academic institutes in Iran.