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A Bird’s Eye View of
Biomedical Editing in Iran
Excerpts from presentation by Dr. Farrokh Habibzade MD*
There is a gradual increase in the number of
published articles being covered by Science Citation Index Expanded and
PubMed. At present there are one hundred thirteen approved biomedical
journals published from Islamic Republic of Iran. Of these fourteen are
covered by EMBASE Excerpta Medica, four are covered by Science Citation
Index Expanded (SCIE) while four are covered by Index Medicus (Medline).
Almost all these biomedical journals are owned, funded and published by
different universities of medical sciences. They mainly cater to the
needs of the academic staff of the respective universities to achieve
career promotions. About 89.79% of these publications are in Persian
while only 24.21% are published in English language.
Most of the Editors have got on the job training. It is a common belief
that “Editorship is a simple issue and every body can master it” which
is not true. Freedom to work and independence of Editors is an important
issue. Some of the problems which the Editors of these biomedical
journals face include low submission rate, poor quality of manuscripts
submitted for publication and non availability of experienced reviewers.
The number of experts who can serve as referees is very few, peer review
process itself takes long and most often the quality of reviews is not
so good. In addition the editors have to work with inactive editorial
boards along with poor logistic support.
Possible solutions: Organizing training courses, workshops for authors,
researchers, reviewers and editors can help improve the situation to a
great extent. Training of members of the editorial board, editorial
office staff office also essential. Once there is increase in the number
of manuscripts being submitted for publication, it will increase the
journal’s visibility besides helping the authors by providing them
better service. Above all the editors in the region need to become
members and support the aims and activities of the Eastern Mediterranean
Association of Medical Editors (EMAME).
* Director at large,
World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)
Chairman, Editorial Committee
Eastern Mediterranean Association of Medical Editors (EMAME)
Editorial Consultant, The Lancet
Director, Shiraz NIOC Medical Education and Research Center,
Shiraz, Islamic Republic of Iran.
E mail: habibzaf@ams.ac.ir
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