Introduction: Education as a main responsibility of universities may not be fulfilled without conduction of the relevant research. Considering that educational development is facilitated through educational research, study of related subjects is necessary. This study aimed to determine educational obstacles of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medicine Sciences' (SSU) academics. Their ability to conduct educational research will be investigated too.

 Methods: This research is a analytic cross sectional study conducted on all academics of SSU who engaged in teaching during 2014. Data collection tool was Spreitzer empowerment questionnaire.

 Results: According to the SSU academics, score for educational obstacles was 65.9/100. The highest and lowest scores for professional and scientific obstacles were 78.93/100 and 56.4/100 respectively. Faculty members’ empowerment score was 78.15/100. There was a significant relationship between gender and administrative responsibility with scientific obstacles.