Topics of Disasters in Scientific Outputs of Medical Sciences: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Accurate and timely information plays an important role in disaster preparedness and this information is partly obtained through research and scientific articles. This study aimed to evaluate the publication status of scientific articles about disasters and accidents in Iranian Medical Journals from 2010 to 2015. Materials and Methods: All Persian articles on the subject of natural disasters; safety; occupational, road, or home accidents, burns, medical errors, related disasters, and emergencies were extracted. The relevant data were collected using a researcher-made checklist through the survey of selected articles. Results: The results obtained from 36341 articles out of 156 journals published by 47 medical universities showed that 599(1.6%) articles were related to emergencies, disasters, and accidents, in which 30(0.08%) articles were about natural disasters and 569(1.5%) papers were about man-made accidents. Conclusion: Although, there were scientific articles dedicated to emergencies, disasters and accidents, such topics were limited. Therefore, it seems necessary to take appropriate measures aimed at greater attention to the needs of national and regional medical scientists.