• Shirin Djalalinia, Mohammad Bagher Talei, Farzaneh Barhemmat, Fatemeh Mohammadali Khalaj, Hamideh Heydari, Hossein Zokaei, Shahin Akhondzadeh, and Asghar Ebadifar.
• Deputy of Research and Technology, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran.
• Arch Iran Med. 2017 Nov 1; 20 (11): 659-664.

BackgroundIn 1990, one of the most important strategies of supporting and managing reproductive research focused on development of research structures. This targeted vision, at the first step, mainly followed through creating research units. The present paper aims to explore the policies and strategies of medical research centers (MRCs)development, and its achievements and challenges over the last 25 years.MethodsBased on expected outcomes of better directions of research activities aligned with the priorities and policies of research, the Deputy of Research and Technology of Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME), initiated the set up and development of research units.ResultsDuring the last 24 years, the number of MRCs has increased from 1 in 1992 to 736 in 2016. The progressive trends of expansion of the research centers are affected by a complex set of influencing factors. At first steps of program, the process of establishment and development of research structures followed slow trends in few unstructured primary centers. From 2008 to 2012, a rapid investment in development of research structures in biomedicine fields led to numerous complex challenges in supervision and management of MRCs (MRCs).ConclusionParticipatory approach in research centers management, benefiting from all available capacities of research stakeholders, could be considered as a practical strategy for better management of limitations and achieving targeted goals.

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