The present study aims to evaluate the barriers to the production of scientific dental articles in dental schools in Iran based on the opinions of dental educators.
Methods:
A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among dental educators of all Iranian dental schools in June 2010. The respondents rated their agreement with ten statements about what hinder them from producing scientific dental articles based on a 5-grade Likert scale. The statements included issues like: load of clinical work, financial and job promotional incentives, required skills for English and scientific writing, and physical condition for writing in the faculty.
Results:
Totally, 330 filled questionnaires from 14 out of 18 dental schools were received. Of all respondents, 52% were male, with mean age of 41.0 years (SD±8.4). Close to two-third of the respondents rated "absence of a professional English editor", "no competency for scientific writing in English", “Inappropriate condition for article writing (suitable space and related facilities) in the dental school", and “high load of clinical work in the school", as the four most prevalent barriers to the production of scientific dental articles.
Conclusions:
The amount of scientific dental articles in Iran is small in relation to the number of present dental schools. To expand the share of Iran in the production of scientific dental articles, related competencies must be enhanced and suitable condition for scientific writing must be provided.