Scientific Achievements of Medical Journals in Occupational Accidents

Background: Occupational accidents are the second cause of occupational fatality in Iran and are among the major health, social, and economic risk factors. Since the publication of scientific articles in the field of occupational accidents reflects the concern of researchers to this important issue, the present study aimed to evaluate the scientific achievements in the field of occupational accidents in the journals of Iranian medical sciences universities. Materials and Methods: The current cross-sectional study was carried out by content analysis method on Persian journals of Iranian medical sciences universities from 2007 to 2016. For data extraction, a researcher-made data collection form tailored to the research objectives was used. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics indices. Results: Assessing a total of 52158 articles extracted from 5226 issues of 147 journals published by 49 medical sciences universities showed that the number of scientific articles in the field of occupational accidents was 259 (0.4% of the total articles). A growing trend was observed in the number of articles during the 10-year study from 12 articles in 2007 to 52 in 2016. The content analysis of the articles showed that the majority of the articles (n=85, 32.8%) were about industrial accidents followed by occupational accidents among healthcare providers (n=48, 18.5%). Most articles (n=254, 98%) were original research, and the research tools in most of the papers (n=214, 82.6%) were questionnaire and checklist. Conclusion: Although the publication of a high number of articles on occupational accidents in the journals of medical sciences universities indicates the attention of experts to the health of the workforce, research in this area is far from enough. Therefore, enhancing the attention of experts, especially the ones in occupational health, occupational medicine, ergonomics, and safety areas seems necessary.