Journals of

  Background and Aim: Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) emphasizes on proper usage of the results of scientific research in the bedside for patients. This study evaluated the levels of clinical evidence in published articles in Iranian scientific medical journals over a fifteen-year period (1994-2008).

  Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, the years 1997, 2002 and 2007 were selected using systematic random sampling method and all of the clinical articles published in odd numbers of Iranian medical journals in these 3-year were analyzed. These articles were categorized according to the Oxford Centre for EBM from level I (highest) to IV (the lowest). Data were analyzed by means of SPSS (version 11.5), using chi-square test at the significant level of P<0.05.

  Results: Out of 4497 published articles in the selected 3-year, 2860 clinical articles were determined and evaluated. The total number of articles with levels I- III increased from 19.9% in year 1997 to 30.1% in year 2002 which indicate a significant growing of clinical evidence over the time (P=0.001). The median level of clinical evidence rating improved from 3 to 2 during the study period. The majority of clinical articles (59.7%) were classified as non-evidence.

  Conclusion: The level of evidence of clinical articles in Iranian scientific medical journals has improved significantly during the studied period. Therefore, it seems the quality of clinical research in Iran has been improved according to standards of EBM.