Role of medical universities in promotion of research culture and production of new knowledge

One of the important objectives of medical universities is production of new knowledge which is only possible through research. realizing the importance of knowledge which is going to be an important asset for overall development of the country, islamic republic of iran has given due importance to promotion of research culture in the country. to realize this objective they have given generous funding to the medical universities besides providing them all the opportunities to function independently. at present there are about forty five medical universities in iran most of which were established after the islamic revolution though some of the universities like tehran, isfahan and shiraz has a very old history. now these medical universities are competing with each other to improve their academic ranking based on published research work.