Electronic Educational and Research Services as Infrastructure for the E- Government: Role of

Introduction: Websites serve as an initial step toward an e- government adoption which facilitates delivery of online services to customers. The existing study intended to investigate the role of university website to render educational and research services based on e- government maturity model in Iranian universities. Methods: This descriptive and cross- sectional study was conducted through content analysis and benchmarking in 1390. Research population included all (37) university website. Delivery of educational and research services in university websites including Information, Interaction, Transaction, and Integration were investigated through the checklist. Using descriptive statistics and through SPSS software, the data were analyzed. Results: Rendering educational and research services through website in type I universities was medium (1/99). Rendering educational and research services through website in type II universities was medium (1/89). The mean score of all universities on integration of educational and research services was 1 out of 3. Conclusion: Results of the study indicated that Iranian universities have passed information and interaction stages, but they have not made much progress in transaction and integration stages. Failure to adopt e-government in Iranian medical universities in which limiting factors such as users’ e- literacy, access to the Internet and ICT infrastructure are not so crucial as in other universities and organizations suggest that in developing countries e- government realization goes beyond technical challenges.