About Us

Persian Medicine Terminology

About the project

Over the past decades, there has been a growing scientific interest in Persian medicine, leading to the publication of related articles in various fields. However, one major issue that researchers encounter when reading Persian medical articles is the inconsistent use of English equivalents for Persian medical terms. This lack of coordination can lead to significant problems in properly introducing and understanding this valuable heritage, and may even reduce collaboration and synergy between researchers.

To systematize Persian medicine, a working group has been formed in the Persian Medicine Office of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education since 2020 to establish standard terminology. The group of experts in Persian medicine and the English language has put together a list of commonly used words in Persian medicine. After 30 consecutive weekly meetings, the working group has completed the first stage of this important project, and their findings are presented here.

Dear colleagues and researchers, we kindly request that you utilize this standard terminology to facilitate the indexing of these terms in the MeSH Database. We hope that this harmonization of Persian medicine terminology will yield positive outcomes soon.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Dr. Nafiseh Hosseini Yekta

Due to the growing number of research studies and resulting scientific articles being published in international scientific journals and databases, and the rapid development of Persian medicine based on clinical evidence, there is an increasing need to standardize the terminology used in Persian medicine. This will ensure greater coordination and consistency in the use of these terms across published articles. In 2020, the Office of Persian Medicine established a special working group to define and translate the concepts and vocabulary of Persian medicine into English. The outcome of this effort is a compilation of precise definitions and translations, which are being uploaded gradually.
All researchers are requested to use standardized words in their scientific texts as much as possible.

Dr. Nafiseh Hosseini Yekta
Adviser to the Minister
Director General of Persian Medicine Office
Ministry of Health and Medical Education
Tehran, Iran

Project members

( in alphabetic order )

Alireza Abbasian

‪Mahdi Alizadeh Vaghasloo

Shahrzad Irannejad

Ayeh Naghizadeh

Mohammad Shams

Meysam Shirzad