A review on inputs and outputs in determining the efficiency of universities of medical sciences by data envelopment analysis method

Background: Increasing the number of students in universities, simultaneously limiting allocation of funds to them, and maintaining the highest efficiency level in education and research are of paramount importance. There are several methods to assess the efficiency of universities, and one of the most widely used of which is data envelopment analysis (DEA). The aim of this study was to determine the input and output criteria to evaluate the efficiency of universities of medical sciences through review-related articles using the DEA method. Methods: The time limit for retrieving articles was considered from the beginning of the publication of the first paper in this field until the end of 2017. The data were retrieved from Web of Science, Scopus, Ovid, ProQuest, Science Direct, and PubMed using advanced searches. Inclusion criteria were as follow: relevancy of the articles to the purpose of the research, availability of the articles’ full-text, articles published to the end of 2017, and articles published in English. Results: The most inputs used in the literature to determine university efficiency were number of academic staffs, budget and costs, number of students, number of nonacademic staffs, spaces, and equipment and student's entrance scores. Also, the most outputs used in the literature to determine university efficiency were number of graduates, publications, incomes, number of students, and student's scores. Conclusion: This study showed that a large number of researchers have focused on measuring and comparing the efficiency of universities to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and manage the resources. Efficiency analysis by DEA allows the policymakers to define and develop policies and guidelines to improve their performances.