Mustafa(pbuh) Prize News

Social Impact and Responsibility Among Rasoul Medal Selection Criteria

2026/10/20

MSTF Media reports:
Gholamreza Hassanzadeh, in an interview with MSTF, elaborated on the judging process for Rasul Medal nominees. “Upon the close of the submission deadline, the evaluation was conducted by a committee of university professors of medical sciences through in-person and online meetings.”
According to Hassanzadeh, the initial screening, carried out over 16 sessions, narrowed the pool from 65,000 nominees to 20,000. A final committee meeting was then held to conduct a thorough assessment, resulting in a shortlist of eight finalists.
“Every indicator was taken into account when evaluating these scientists in terms of qualitative and quantitative criteria,” Hassanzadeh added.
Asked whether the selection criteria were based on a scientist’s overall achievements or on a specific achievement or research publication, he explained, “The winners of the Rasul Medal, unlike the Mustafa^(pbuh) Prize, are not selected based on a single outstanding achievement.
“These scientists are under 40 years old and have only recently begun their research careers. Our criterion was therefore more focused on the quality and significance of their achievements. For example, even if a paper they had published had not received many citations, it could still be considered a significant achievement if it had helped solve a problem facing a society.”
Regarding the most important criteria for selecting the final list of laureates, he stated, “Various quantitative and qualitative indicators, such as the H-index, were more relevant in the initial screening. In the later stages, we examined the original articles and the work that individuals had done, as well as patents.”
Hassanzadeh highlighted the importance of the tangible social impact of scientific achievements in selecting candidates for the Rasul Medal. “One of the essential characteristics of universities is social accountability, and every scientist must be accountable to their society and humanity as a whole. Therefore, we carefully considered criteria such as social accountability and individual impact. Every scientific work has inputs and outputs, but the most important question is how much impact it has on society and the extent to which it can help solve societal problems.”
The professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Tehran also discussed the total number of nominations received by the Rasul Medal secretariat. “Many eligible candidates were nominated, and the initial screening proceeded smoothly.”
He emphasized, “Our working group did not adopt an exclusively national perspective. We did not favour nominees from any particular country; rather, we sought to select anyone in the Islamic countries who was genuinely deserving.”