TEHRAN - The Rasul (pbuh) Medal recognizes young scientists whose work demonstrates social responsibility and makes a meaningful contribution to society and humanity, with particular emphasis on the real-world impact of their achievements.

The Rasul (pbuh) Medal is presented alongside the Mustafa (pbuh) Prize to scientists under the age of 40 from the Islamic world. Established in 2012, the Mustafa Prize aims to honor prominent scientists and foster scientific cooperation and development worldwide, serving as a symbol of scientific excellence at the international level.

“Following the close of the submission period, university professors of medical sciences evaluated the nominees through in-person and online meetings,” said Gholamreza Hassanzadeh.

The evaluation process involved 16 initial screening sessions, narrowing the pool from 65,000 nominees to 20,000. A final committee meeting was then held to conduct a comprehensive assessment, resulting in a shortlist of eight finalists, he added.

“All indicators were taken into account in evaluating the scientists against both qualitative and quantitative criteria,” Hassanzadeh said.

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.”

He 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.”