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The reason we are the first Iranian medical university to support the More than Our Rank project and publish our own statement is that Iranian Universities of Medical Sciences, operating under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, have responsibilities that go beyond their primary mission of teaching medical and premedical sciences. They are also responsible for providing public health and healthcare services, as well as overseeing food and pharmaceutical surveillance within the communities they serve.

These services based on geographic coordinates and population of the region would be different and, in this case, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences covers over 6 million Tehran’s population. This broad zone with 8811 square-kilometer area, includes 9 districts, 8 cities, and also rural and suburban areas. The health network services of the university consist of 90 comprehensive urban and 18 rural health centers, 8 24-7 centers, 254 urban and rural health houses and 117 healthcare sites. Furthermore, this university has 21 teaching hospitals with 5279 patient beds, 3789 active beds, among which 749 ICU beds for specialty and vital services have been provided. The area covered by this university is one of the focal points of Iran’s industry.

According to the latest statics, 40 percent of Iran’s total industry has been located in Tehran among which near 15 percent is placed in the mentioned area. Health, medical, and occupational health of industries in executive and controlling sectors are monitored by this university.

Our university is beyond its training and educational mission. This is a multidimensional scientific ecosystem constantly produces a large amount of structured and semi-structured data by means of its own vast horizon in health and medical affairs, pharmaceutical education, culture, social services, and other interdisciplinary fields. These data are compiled in a form of diverse data bases, specialized information system, and data resources; they provide a considerable potential for supporting scientific researches, data-centered analysis and producing knowledge. Strategic exploitation of data bases is a profitable way to expand practical researches, evident-based decision making, and upgrading national and international ranks. The research skeleton of the university is powerful and dynamic. This university has 13 research institutes, and 81 research centers located in faculties and hospitals. 7 of them are regional bureaus or associates of World Health Organization (WHO) and have a significant role in science production and provision of answers to national and global challenges and needs. We do not just focus on doing researches for the sake of paper publication but our fundamental interest is finding answers for health and scientific urges of the country. By having 31 English journals and 12 Persian journals with English abstracts— among which 13journals in ISI, 12 journals in PubMed, and 16 journals in Scopus are indexed — this university in the realm of science promotion has an upper hand. In line with the commercialization of knowledge and research, supporting innovative ideas and startups, wealth production and entrepreneurship, advancement of technology and economy of knowledge-based companies, and establishment of impactful relation with industry and society, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences supports 10 growth and incubation centers, one Science and Technology Park, two innovative departments, and 246 knowledge-based companies.

In order to empower research bases, this university financially and ethically supports more than 70 disease record projects. We believe that cohorts and diseases record can pave the way for more integrated and more generalized researches and outcomes at national and international levels.  Regardless of the strict standards, most of disease record data can be studied and compared with that of the international or national cases of the other countries. This can provide further chances for international research activities.

Bio bank is another infrastructure which is applied for long-term storage of biological samples of recent studies. In this case, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences by establishing 10 active bio banks is a pioneer.

Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences proves that universities’ value goes beyond their international ranks and upgraded indicators in the reputable international ranking systems, it shows up itself in its impact on health, welfare and sustainable development within the society. This illuminates how the role of universities is not just limited to teaching and research but it goes further.

Some of international ranking systems evaluate mostly comprehensive or non-medical universities. These ranking systems’ indicators and metrics have less compatibility with medical education, healthcare services and social responsibility practiced in medical universities. Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences is a state university and has nearly 13,000 students, 11,000 of them are studying free of charge. This fact reveals university’s commitment to educational justice and equal access to higher education for all walks of life.

In the field of education this university offers a wide range of majors and study levels including: 28 subspecialties, 32 specialties, 67 majors in bachelor’s and master’s degrees, 71 fellowship courses, 15 masters of public health, 67 educational PhDs, 65 PhDs by research, and 3 professional degrees in medicine. The complete list of offered majors can be accessed via following link on our official website: https://en.sbmu.ac.ir/Fields%20of%20Study

In the realm of sustainability and environmental responsibility, principles of green management in the university and hospitals and affiliated centers are performed. However, sub-humid and arid region in which the university is located, causes lack of congruity with some defined indicators within the environmental ranking systems such as Green Metric. Therefore, our spot in these ranking systems cannot be an accurate and real reflection of our university’s measures.

Now by joining “More Than Our Rank” campaign we declare that universities’ evaluation must be based on more precise and comprehensive perception of universities’ missions, local interests, social impacts, and their commitment to general health. One might rather say that the real essence of a university can be found not in its ranking spots secured in different ranking competitions but in its sincere services for the society and individuals.

We announce our readiness for cooperation with universities around the world on bio banks and disease records. Thus, according to the differences seen in the missions and visions of medical sciences universities in Iran there is an urgent need for revision in the medical sciences university ranking systems and their defined criteria. In other words, introduction of customized metrics for each medical university can be profitable.    

It can be concluded that the indicators which can appropriately evaluate potentials of this university in the above-mentioned sectors are not included in the most of international ranking systems. Therefore, with reference to the slogan and primary mission of More Than Our Rank campaign, our university has its own unique rank more than common rankings.