Hindrances of carrying out research projects and restrictions of international publication of scientific findings for Iranian health professionals during Corona virus pandemic

Introduction: Publishing scientific findings internationally promotes universities and faculty members, enhances public awareness and maintain research value in the scientific community. In this regard scholars tend to increase the quality and quantity of their scientific investigations. Moreover, carrying out research is an integral part of education whose demand is highlighted even more in academic context. However, on closer inspection, it is revealed that not all the faculty members are eager to carry out research. Even if they are, the boundaries restrict them from publishing their scientific findings. This is crucial to consider in settings such as the present Corona Virus Pandemic when publication of scientific findings accelerates the diagnostic and therapeutic process. Hence, it is worth investigating the potential boundaries of conducting research and publishing the findings internationally. Methods: This was a mixed-method research in which faculty members of Iranian universities of medical sciences participated. During the first qualitative phase, HUMS faculty members who were selected through snowball sampling, were interviewed in person about their research priorities and limitations in addition to problems with their findings’ international publication. Once data saturation was achieved, according to the items which were brought up, a questionnaire was made whose reliability and validity was confirmed. It was sent in digital format to different universities of medical sciences after negotiating with the deputy of research and technology. Faculty members from Hormozgan, Shiraz, Yazd, Tehran, Golestan and Kerman universities of medical sciences filled out the questionnaire virtually. The data was analyzed using SPSS۲۲ . Findings: Altogether, ۶۷ male/female clinical, educational and research faculty members from schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, para-medicine, nursing and midwifery took part. Almost all had conducted a research project during the pandemic, half of which was related to Covid۱۹. Research limitations were regarded as lack of funding, equipment and facilities, limited number of higher education students, incomplete and time consuming investigation of written records, lack of cooperation between the research team due to teleworking, literature review problems with articles which are not accessed openly, language barriers and proper search techniques . Among the limitations of findings’ international publication, the following were highlighted: quality of research and articles, political issues such as the sanctions against our country, and publication fee in Euro/dollar. Language barriers included paper writing/ edition in English and translation/letter writing to journals . Conclusion: Considering the number of participants, it is clear that not many faculty members are willing to participate in research projects. The underlying reason would be the declared hindrances which do not merely belong to the Covid pandemic. Hence they are worth consideration in detail by the deputy of research of universities to overcome such restrictions that hinder country’s health system knowledge.

Keywords:

Covid-۱۹ , SARS-Cov-۲ , Article , Limitation of Research , scientific investigations