Introduction: Nowadays researchers widely believe that there are differences in the effectiveness of problem-based training compared to traditional methods such as lecture. This study was done in order to compare academic achievement in lecture-based learning versus problem-based learning among medical students through a systematic review. Methods: This study is a secondary research done using a systematic review method. In this study, all published articles related to comparing academic achievement of medical students through lecture and problem-based methods were analyzed. These studies were conducted from 1998 to 2013. At first, the question of study was defined and search strategy was specified. The related articles were searched through international data bases such as, Pubmed, SCOPUS, Wiley, Springer, Ovid, EMBASE and internal resources such as, Iranmedex, Irandoc, SID, Magiran and related journals using the proper keywords and mixing them. Articles that met the inclusion criteria were assessed using the relevant checklists. Results: Out of the total 95 articles found in the primary search of resources, eight met the inclusion criteria. In most studies comparing these two methods, academic achievement was higher in groups with problem-based learning, and in none of the reviewed studies, academic achievement was found to be less in problem-based group compared with the group receiving traditional or lecture-based methods. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that using a problem-based learning method can increase cognitive abilities of medical students and can be effective in improving their academic achievement.

Keywords: Systematic Review, problem-based learning, lecture, academic achievement, medical students.

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