Systematic review of priority setting studies in health research in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Background: Several research priority-setting studies have been conducted in different countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Aims: We conducted a systematic review and evaluated the quality of the priority-setting reports about health research in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Methods: English and Farsi databases were searched from January to July 2016 to extract reports (up to December 2015) about priority setting in health research in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We constructed a checklist to extract data from the identified studies. Articles were studied in detail and content analysis was carried out. Relevant items were scored and analysed using Microsoft Excel.

Results: We identified 36 articles. Eight articles involved all the main stakeholders. About half the articles used valid criteria for ranking. Transparency was fulfilled in 13 articles. Upstream rules and regulations were ignored in 26 articles. An implementation plan was considered in 9 articles and context analysis was demonstrated in only 3.

Conclusions: Developing standard packages for priority setting, training of researchers and improving the capacity of organizations may improve the quality of priority-setting studies in the future.