Tehran

Introduction: Many webometric studies have been done on Iranian universities, still there has not been conducted an overall research evaluating the changes in the webometric status of them over the time. The current study focuses on all Iranian universities’ and research centers’ websites and their national, regional and international webometrics ranks during 2007-2009.
Methods: In a cross-sectional descriptive study, the websites of Iranian universities and research centers were retrieved via Google search engine. Then their national, regional and international webometrics ranks in webometrics.info at July 2007, January 2008, July 2008 and January 2009 were extracted and compared.
Results: The study showed that Tehran university website ranked first in the national level at the four time frames while ranked third in the region and 990th in the world in January 2009. Mashad University stood at the top of the other Iranian universities according to the overall promotion in the international webometric ranking. Iranian Information and Documentation Center (Irandoc) was the only Iranian research center among the first 1000 reported research and development centers in July 2008 and January 2009 webometric rankings of webometrics.info.
Conclusion: In order to improve webometric ranks of Iranian universities and research centers, appropriate policies should be developed while being continuously monitored by Iranian education and research policy makers.

Introduction: Nowadays, several indicators are used to evaluate scientific research outputs. The h index is one of the most common indices taken into account by many authorities to assess individuals and institutions, worldwide. In this study, the attitudes of medical sciences researchers towards significance of factors affecting the h index and citations were investigated.
  Methods: At the beginning of 2008, h-indices of all academic members of Iranian medical universities were screened based on the Scopus database. The attitudes of the faculty members who had an h index of one or more were investigated through a self-structured questionnaire in which increasing factors of the h index and paper citations was assessed. The data were analyzed using statistical methods.
  Results: The r esponse rate was about 37%. The respondents’ attitudes toward the items were not different between the the group whose h-index was more than 6 to the other group whose h-index was less than 6. They respondents believed that publishing in high Impact Factor journals, well-designed researches considering the methodology, and to be the 1st study of its subject in the country and the world, are the most important factors in achieving citations. They did not believe that publishing review articles, contributing internationally, and having frequent paper topics were important in gaining citations.
  Conclusion: It seems that our researchers were not aware of the importance of publishing review articles and also in Open Access journals to increase citation rates. Proper interventions should be conducted to correct this attitude in order to increase the country’s and researchers’ citations.

Introduction: Scientific Production is one of the frequently used measures of research performance of a country, a region or a university. In the present study, the number of approved research projects, congress proceedings, journal articles and books published by the researchers of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2006 were identified and then compared with those of 2005. Methods: We performed the present cross-sectional study by searching medical databases and assessing the related documents produced in the year 2006. Then the results were compared with the same scientific production in 2005. Results: The findings showed 100% increase in published indexed and non-indexed journal articles, a growth of 99% in approved research projects and 94% in congress proceedings in 2006 compared with those in 2005. Conclusion: The study indicated a significant growth in research performance of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences through 2006.

Introduction: Ergonomics is the science of improvement of the work environment, job and equipment and adapting them to the human capabilities and limitations. Observing ergonomic principles of computer application is essential for the computer users. Lack of attention to these principles would decrease efficiency and cause irreparable somatic complications. The present study assesses the knowledge of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences Librarians about ergonomics principles of computer application.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional analytic study. The study population was all the librarians who worked in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences at the time of the study. The data was gathered using a knowledge measurement researcher- made questionnaire, consisting of 28 questions which its content validity were checked and revised. The data were analyzed by T-test and ANOVA using SPSS software version 15.
Results: Mean score of correct answers to the questions was reported as 5.65 ± 4.45 of 18. There was no significant relationship between the total questionnaire score and the variables sex, educational level, type of education, employment status, educational Course for the proper use of
the computer and the number of hours of computer use per day however there was significant relationship between total score and the study for the proper use of computer.
Conclusion: The findings indicated that the knowledge of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences librarians about ergonomic principles of computer application was low. This can be due to disregard of authorities, librarians or both of them that it can be harmful to their health and the
University should also pay the heavy cost of reduced staff productivity. Therefore, it is recommended that the responsible organizations promote the librarians' knowledge about ergonomic principles of computer application through training courses, conferences, consized
brochures. It is also recommended that librarians expand their studies on this topic.

Medical Informatics is a developing body of knowledge concerned with the use of information and communication technology in support of medical research, education and also for promoting health care delivery. The field focuses on the biomedical information, patient data, and also acquisition, storage, retrieval and optimal use of information for problem solving and decision making. The goal of medical informatics is to help health care workers improve their way of working and the outcome of their performances. There is a variety of classification types for the different applications of medical informatics among which Telemedicine, Electronic Medical Records, Information Retrieval and Decision Support Systems are the most important. Different applications of medical informatics can contribute to better outcomes in patient care and decrease the costs of health care services through error reduction, providing patients with their needed information and supporting physicians with updated information and related knowledge.

Introduction: Some of the most frequently used webometric indicators for evaluating and ranking academic web sites are web impact factor, number of web pages and number of inlinks. The present study evaluated and ranked top Iranian Medical universities according to the webometric indicators.
Methods: The present cross-sectional study has been done on top Iranian medical universities. The number of web pages, inlinks and external inlinks were identified using AltaVista search engine. Then their overall and absolute web impact factors were calculated. Finally, the universities were compared and ranked according to the size, inlinks, external Inlinks and also the overall and absolute web impact factors.
Results: The results showed that Tehran University of Medical Sciences ranked first according to the size and inlinks while ranked last according to the overall and absolute web impact factors. Ahwaz University of Medical Sciences got the highest position according to the overall and absolute web impact factors compared with the other universities.
Conclusion: The study revealed that even top Iranian medical universities have not wide presence over the web and are not internationally well known. Having few English web pages and short web history are the major reasons for Iranian universities poor presence on the web.

The most important goal of health systems is improvement of quality, effectiveness and efficiency of health services. To achieve this goal, health care organizations should establish a proper structure for evaluating health information systems. Health information system evaluation is expected to identify the existing problems of the system through measuring specific indicators. The main objective of planning health information system evaluation is to ensure availability of useful and utilizable data for measuring essential health indicators. Many researches have been done on health information systems evaluation indicators and stages. The current study overviews the previous studies and describes the suggested approach of World Health Organization to health information system evaluation which has been used in several countries. This program provides a comprehensive framework of health information systems evaluation. It is evident that determining the stages of the assessment program and its basic indicators will increase the effectiveness of health information system and subsequently improve health care.

Evaluation of health information systems is an effective approach to ensure the efficacy of the system which can lead to the improvement in quality of health care services. The main aims of evaluation are to identify the strength and efficiency of system in health care delivery, to identify the weaknesses of the system, and to suggest general recommendations for improving the performance of the system. Evaluation could be performed through various methods. Some experts believe in three general methods including goal-based evaluation, goal-free evaluation and criteria-based evaluation. While some others consider two main methods for evaluation which are objective or quantitative and subjective or qualitative methods. Formative and summative methods are other classification of evaluation methods regarded by a number of researchers. This review represents various evaluation methods in health information systems and introduces the objectives and components to be evaluated in such systems.

Introduction: One of the key elements of success of health institutions is Standardization. This study introduces the methods and stages of electronic medical records standardization. Methods: The present study is a narrative review of the studies on the stages and methods of electronic medical records standardization. Results: The process of standardization of electronic medical records includes several phases in which demand for a standard stands in the first phase. In the next phases, standard is developed, turns to a prototype and will be examined. Finally, in case of obtaining positive results, it will be approved and disseminate. Conclusion: Standard developing organizations along with professional health care organizations play important role in standardizing electronic medical records. Nevertheless, a number of general standards of information technology had tremendous effect on developing health care information systems.

Information is the symbol of the present age due to the significant development in accessing, processing, storage and transferring information. Information societies have been formed by the widespread utilization of information and communication technologies in human social life and generally focus on the computer systems and information networks. Nowadays, various technologies of medical informatics comprise an important component of the management infrastructures of health care systems. Medical informatics is the development and assessment of specific methods and systems for acquisition, processing and analyzing patients' data with the help of knowledge and information from scientific researches. Moreover, it intends to increase access, improve quality and decrease the costs of care through decreasing chronological and geographical limitations. On the other hand, ethics have been always considered as a basic component of these systems. The increasing development of digital technologies and their application in health information management provides numerous benefits; however, it encounters health care managers with new challenges in the information societies. These challenges may has been mainly caused by the conflicts among ethical principles by themselves or disregarding them in the field of medical informatics. Therefore, careful consideration of info ethics as well as beneficence, autonomy, fidelity and justice is essential to overcome those conflicts in the information societies.

Introduction: Evidence based practice is an approach to clinical practice which emphasizes the use of best clinical researches as a component of clinical decision making. The aim of this study was to determine the percentage of current clinical decision making and disease management which is based and supported by high-level evidence in an educational hospital located in Isfahan, Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried on 103 patients who were admitted during one month to seven Internal medicine wards in Alzahra hospital. For each patient, the primary diagnosis and primary treatment were recorded. Evidence based resources were then searched for randomized controlled trials (RCT's), systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines to find the best research evidence that the treatments were effective. The main outcome measure was the level of evidence which supports the primary intervention for the primary diagnosis of each patient. Finding: Level I evidence (at least one randomized trial) supported the primary intervention used in 68.9% of internal admissions and level II evidence (convincing non-experimental evidence) supported the primary intervention in 31.1% of admissions. None of patients received intervention with level III supporting evidence. Conclusion: Most patients had received high level supported interventions. It seems that we should repeat this study in other wards. Also it may be recommended to design some educational evidence based practice for non academic physicians.

Background: The quality and quantity of published articles are frequently used indicators for measuring the research output of universities. Recent studies reveal the significant development in scientific production of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The aim of this study was to identify the contribution of academic journals published by Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in the scientific productivity of this university. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was carried out by reviewing total issues of academic journals published by Isfahan University of Medical Sciences from April 2009 till the end of March 2010. The data were analyzed by Excel 2007 software. Finding: From total research score of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, 2087 points were acquired by 9 academic journals published by this university. Journal of Isfahan Medical School with 828 points ranked first in terms of the most contribution in the scientific productivity among other academic journals. Conclusion: Devoting considerable attention to the available potentials in the field of journal publishing would improve research policies of increasing academic scientific productivity.

Background: The websites of universities by introducing the missions, faculties, departments, courses, educational levels, research and educational facilities, faculty members, students and alumni to the World Wide Web are of great importance. Nowadays webometric ranking of universities is as important as the academic ranking of universities. Webometric ranking of universities reflects the overall web performance of the universities. Analyzing the researches on Iranian academic websites shows many deficiencies in the websites of the Iranian medical universities. These problems are the main causes of low webometric ranks of Iranian medical universities in the Ranking Web of World Universities. The current study reviews the previous studies on the academic websites of Iran and other countries and suggests several ideas for improving the websites of Iranian medical universities focusing on the structure and content according to the webometric indicators of Ranking Web of World Universities. The suggested ideas would improve Iranian medical universities ranks in the international level and also affect the major national policies of information management.

In Iran, the number of published articles has increased significantly in the basic and applied sciences including medicine and its subspecialties during the recent years. The present Study reviewed Iranian science production in medicine, focusing on Iranian medical journals and assessing the current status of Iranian medical journals in several information databases. The study revealed that only a few number of Iranian biomedical journals were indexed by Web of Science, Medline, Scopus and Biological abstract, but most of them have been covered by Index Copernicus and Index Medicus for Eastern Mediterranean Region. Observing some important factors Such as journal's basic publishing standards may increase the number of Iranian medical journals indexed by reputable information databases and improve Iranian contribution to the world science.

Background: Continuous evaluation of research performance is an effective tool for financial and human resource allocation to promote knowledge production by academic institutions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the scientific performance of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) from April 2010 to April 2011 in the national medical research ranking. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out through running advanced searches in the national, local and international information databases and other websites. Then the data were analyzed in order to demonstrate IUMS scientific production and research status at a national level. Results: From April 2010 to April 2011, about 9% of total Iranian medical articles, 6% of total Iranian ISI indexed articles in medical science and 12% of Iranian PubMed indexed articles affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Although Isfahan University of Medical Sciences stood at the third place in the annual national research ranking, but it was first in the scientific growth among Iranian medical universities. Conclusions: The study indicated that Isfahan University of Medical Sciences witnessed striking improvement in scientific productivity, research performance and national research grade during 2010-2011.

Introduction: Several studies indicate a significant growth in research activities and scientific achievements in Iran during recent years. Isfahan University of Medical sciences as a main university has had a special situation in this regard. The aim of this study was to determine science productions of Isfahan University of Medical sciences since its establishment, during1985 till 2007. Methods: This was a descriptive study, performed based on the data retrieved from ISI Web of Science and Medline databases. Results: Researchers of Isfahan University of Medical sciences indexed 313 scientific article in Medline and 350 in ISI. Among all schools and centers affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical sciences, school of medicine was ranked in the first place regarding scientific productions indexed in the 2 mentioned databases. Conclusion: This study demonstrates a significant growth in producing scientific articles in this university especially after the year 2000. Establishing the rewarding system for article writers, developing and expand-ing the infrastructures for internet, providing on-line services in this university, subscribing scientific databases and electronic journals, and running workshops in research methodology and scientific writing were among the most important factors causing this progress.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a repository of patient health information shared among multiple authorized users. As a modern method of storing and processing health information, it is a solution for improving quality, safety and efficiency of patient care and health system. However, establishment of EHR requires a significant investment of time and money. While many of healthcare providers have very limited capital, application of open source software would be considered as a solution in developing national electronic health record especially in countries with low income. The evidence showed that financial limitation is one of the obstacles to implement electronic health records in developing countries. Therefore, establishment of an open source EHR system capable of modifications according to the national requirements seems to be inevitable in Iran. The present study identifies the impact of application of open source software in developing national electronic health record in Iran.