ABSTRACT
Understanding the effect of different factors on the utilization of physician services is of great importance for policy making processes in health sector. Identification of such factors will improve the process of planning and policy making in health sector. To examine the effect of accessibility, income and out- of- pocket payments for visit and medicine on the utilization of specialist doctors' services [visits], in the population covered by Social Security Organization [SSO]. Managerial data bases throughout the SSO were used to measure the effect of assumed variables on the utilization of specialist doctors' services [visits] in a thirty-million population covered by SSO. The data were collected from 1998 to 2009 and then adjusted for the purpose of the study. A bilogarithmic regression model with panel data, using fixed effect model was estimated. The study results showed that 1% increase in the geographic accessibility and medicine costs would increase the utilization of specialist doctors' services by 23% and 17%, respectively. As well, out-of-pocket payments for specialists' visits and the insureds' incomes have no significant effect on the utilization of these services. Visiting specialists in private sector showed no responsiveness to out-of- pocket payments, but more for geographic accessibility. Social Security Organization can regulate and control the utilization of these services through considering the flexibility of different provinces to different factors.
ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge productions of Iranian researchers who had published papers on AIDS in journals and sources with impact factor indexed in the Web of Science between 2000 and 2010. The amount of scientific publications by Iranian researchers on AIDS in the Web of Science was studied with scientometric methods. 336 documents with at least one author affiliated to Iranian organizations were identified. The process of science production of Iranian researchers enjoyed an increasing annual growth rate of 30%. Iranian researchers had scientific collaboration with 22 international authors dominated by American authors. Tehran University of Medical Sciences contributed to almost one fifth of the scientific productions among national organizations. Most research studies conducted by Iranian researchers on AIDS were listed under the category of infectious diseases. 35% of the journals in which Iranian researchers published their papers were American journals. However, the journal, Hepatitis Monthly, published the highest number of papers by Iranian researchers. Iran's share of journal publications enjoyed an upward trend internationally, and in this regard, Iranian researchers have remarkable contribution to international joint venture articles