title: Barriers and challenges in researches by Iranian students of medical universities.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health sciences research (HSR) is an essential part of improving health care which plays a critical role in the field of medicine and clinical practice. The aim of the current study was to assess barriers to the research by students of medical sciences as well as to find out effective strategies for management of student researches in Iranian universities.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study utilized a hybrid design with quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches conducted on 627 students in six schools of medical sciences in two universities in Central Province in Iran from April to December, 2012. Questionnaires were distributed among researcher and non-researcher students to find barriers to the research. These barriers were approved and validated by similar studies and strategies using the Delphi technique on 36 students.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most important barriers among researcher students were institutional barriers (3.3 ± 1.3), but in non-researcher students they were individual barriers (3.6 ± 1.7). The majority of barriers to involvement in the research among researcher students appeared to be time, lack of access to electronic resources and prolongation of the process of buying equipment. In addition, the greatest barriers among non-researcher students included the lack of time, scientific writing skills, and access to trained assistants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results showed the issue of attitudes towards compulsory research as a component of critical scholarship in the curriculum of medical courses. Moreover, employment of the research experts can be helpful for research training in schools of medical sciences.
authors: Department of Education Development Center, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
authors: Zohreh
authors: Z
authors: Anbari
authors: Department of Epidemiology, School of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Qom, Iran ; Health Policy and Promotion Research Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Qom, Iran.
authors: Abolfazl
authors: A
authors: Mohammadbeigi
authors: Department of Education Development Center, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
authors: Rahmatollah
authors: R
authors: Jadidi
keywords: Barriers; challenges; medical sciences students; research; students of medical sciences; universities