title: An assessment of health research impact in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In recent years, Iran has made significant developments in the field of health sciences. However, the question is whether this considerable increase has affected public health. The research budget has always been negligible and unsustainable in developing countries. Hence, using the Payback Framework, we conducted this study to evaluate the impact of health research in Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  By using a cross-sectional method and two-stage stratified cluster sampling, the projects were randomly selected from six medical universities. A questionnaire was designed according to the Payback Framework and completed by the principle investigators of the randomly selected projects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 70.4%. Ten point twenty-four percent (10.24%) of the studies had been ordered by a knowledge user organization. The average number of articles published in journals per project was 0.96, and half of the studies had no articles published in Scopus. The results of 12% of the studies had been used in systematic review articles and the same proportion had been utilized in clinical or public health guidelines. The results of 5.3% of the studies had been implemented in the Health Ministry's policymaking. 62% of the studies were expected to affect health directly, 38% of them had been implemented, and among the latter 60% had achieved the expected results. Concerning the economic impacts, the most common expected impact was the reduction of 'days of work missed because of illness or disability' and impact on personal and health system costs. About 36% of these studies had been implemented, and 61% had achieved the expected impact.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In most aspects, the status of research impact needs improvement. A comparison of Iran's ranking of knowledge creation and knowledge impact in the Global Innovation Index confirms these findings. The most important problems identified were, not conducting research based on national needs, and the lack of implementation of research results.
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. byazdizadeh@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Bahareh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yazdizadeh
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.|Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Majdzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Janani
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Farideh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mohtasham
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nikooee
authors.affiliation: Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdmohammad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mousavi
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
authors.forename: Farid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Najafi
authors.affiliation: Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Atabakzadeh
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Azam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bazrafshan
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zare
authors.affiliation: Social Determinants of Health Research Center and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Manoochehr
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karami
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D003906:Developing Countries; D017048:Health Care Costs; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D019359:Knowledge; D011634:Public Health; D011643:Publishing; D012577:Schools, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014495:Universities
keywords: Health research system; Payback; Research impact assessment