Introduction: The rapid growth in the production and dissemination of qualitative research has increased the need to aggregate the findings of these studies and make optimal use of meta-synthesis studies. This study aims to develop and validate a checklist for evaluating the quality of meta-synthesis studies and assessing the quality of published meta-synthesis articles. Method: To achieve the two main objectives—developing a quality assessment framework for meta-synthesis studies and evaluating a selection of published meta-synthesis studies—a mixed exploratory methods design was employed, consisting of documentary analysis and evaluation. The first part involved developing and presenting a quality assessment checklist based on documentary analysis for meta-synthesis studies. In the second part, all meta-synthesis articles published in health science journals in Iran from 2018 to 2023, indexed in databases such as Irandoc, Magiran, Noormags, the Ensani Portal, and the Jahad Daneshgahi database, were evaluated. Findings: The first part led to creating and introduction a checklist with 47 indicators and six quality criteria. In the second part, the overall compliance rate of meta-synthesis articles with the criteria reported in PRISMA 2020 was estimated at 77.35%. However, none of the articles achieved the mastery level (0.885) in adhering to the six indicators, indicating a gap in fully meeting these criteria. Conclusion: It is recommended that educational programs emphasize familiarizing students with reliable tools like PRISMA and the fundamental principles of qualitative research, particularly documentary studies.