A Critical Review of Qualitative Articles in Journals’ Review Process: a Descriptive Exploratory Study

Introduction: Iranian researchers have increasingly been interested in conducting qualitative research studies in health system and publishing related articles. However, no research study was found to critically analyze qualitative articles in the review process of Iranian journals. The aim of this study has been to critically review qualitative articles in the review process of journals. Methods: This descriptive exploratory qualitative study was conducted from 2007 to 2014 and more than 110 articles that were sent by some Iranian journals to the author of this article for a blind review were qualitatively analyzed. The subject of these articles was mainly related to nursing, midwifery and medical education. Data was analyzed through two phases of open coding and axial coding of Strauss and Corbin. Results: Some problems in reviewed articles included lack of a clear statement about the challenge (gap) in previous research studies, not mentioning researchers’ experiences or interests and having no new or attractive message for which the research was actually conducted. Others problems included irrelative methodology, not detailed description of used methods, and not enough saturation of main categories. Conclusion: Results indicated that problems categorized in reviewed articles were completely interrelated in a way that one problem has led to development of another one. In addition to issues related to article writing, many problems turned back to the conducting phase of the research project. Findings of this study might be used as an instruction for researchers to better conduct qualitative research studies and publish related findings.