title: Challenges and success factors in university mergers and academic integrations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are different reasons for mergers among higher education institutes. In October 2010 the Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) merged with two other medical universities in Tehran. In this study, we aim to review the literature on academic integrations and university mergers to call the attention to challenges and reasons for the success or failure of university mergers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched for studies that pertained to university or college mergers, amalgamation, dissolution, or acquisition in the following databases: PubMed, Emerald, Web of Science, Scopus, and Ovid, without any limitations on country, language, or publication date. Two reviewers selected the search results in a joint meeting. We used content analysis methodology and held three sessions for consensus building on incompatibilities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We reviewed a total of 32 documents. The "merger" phenomenon attracted considerable attention worldwide from the 1970s until the 1990s. The most important reasons for merging were to boost efficiency and effectiveness, deal with organizational fragmentation, broaden student access and implement equity strategies, increase government control on higher education systems, decentralization, and to establish larger organizations. Cultural incompatibility, different academic standards, and geographical distance may prevent a merger. In some countries, geographical distance has caused an increase in existing cultural, social, and academic tensions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decision and process of a merger is a broad, multi-dimensional change for an academic organization. Managers who are unaware of the fact that mergers are an evolutionary process with different stages may cause challenges and problems during organizational changes. Socio-cultural integration acts as an important stage in the post-merger process. It is possible for newly-formed schools, departments, and research centers to be evaluated as case studies in future research.
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. ahmadvand.ar@gmail.com
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmadvand
authors.forename: Kazem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heidari
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Majdzadeh
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D006273:Health Facility Merger; D007492:Iran; D014495:Universities