In the current situation where production of science is regarded as a power for a country, the study of scientific functions in terms of quantity and quality and recognition of the characteristics of different thematic areas to evaluate the scientific efficiency of each field and recognize the strengths and weaknesses are the issue of concern to all countries. One of the most important objective manifestations of a country’s scientific output is the papers that have high quality and effectiveness in the scientific field.
Scientific works published in reputable journals are indexed in citation databases such as the Web of Science or Scopus. The number of papers indexed in such databases is a ranking criterion for researchers, universities and countries. On the other hand, publishing scientific works in such databases will increase the visibility and citation rate of the papers. Numerous studies have shown that the country has experienced significant scientific growth in recent years in terms of the number of papers published in international journals covering various scientific disciplines.
The Trends in Publishing Highly Cited Papers Between 2006 and 2015
Research findings show that over a period of ten years, 976 highly cited papers written by Iranians have been published in 22 subject areas. Reviewing such publication trends in different years indicates that the year 2014 in which 208 papers were published, was marked by the publication of the highest number of highly cited papers in Iran, whereas 2006, with 32 papers, experienced the lowest. The frequency of highly cited papers in different years shows that their number has increased over time. Also, 21.31 and 15.47 percent of the total publications were published in 2014 and 2015 respectively thereby making them the period with the highest number of highly cited papers (Table 1).
Table 1. The Number of Highly Cited Papers Per Year
|
Year |
Number of Highly Cited Paper |
% Of Total Number of Highly Cited Papers
|
|
2015 |
151 |
15.47 |
|
2014 |
208 |
21.31 |
|
2013 |
142 |
14.55 |
|
2012 |
111 |
11.37 |
|
2011 |
78 |
7.99 |
|
2010 |
90 |
9.22 |
|
2009 |
54 |
5.53 |
|
2008 |
43 |
4.41 |
|
2007 |
54 |
5.53 |
|
2006 |
32 |
3.28 |
Highly Cited Papers Written by Iranians in Various Subject Areas
The Islamic Republic of Iran has had at least one highly cited paper in all 22 subject areas except the field of interdisciplinary sciences. Among them, most of the highly cited papers have been published in the fields of engineering (354 papers), chemistry (120 papers), mathematics (112 papers) and physics (101 papers). Also, in fields such as economics and trade and microbiology, there was only one highly cited paper. The study of the average lifespan of research papers in different fields shows that those published in the fields of space science (1 year), economics and trade (1.58 years) and molecular biology and genetics (2.35 years) have the lowest rates of life expectancy, whereas microbiology (8.58 years), plant and animal sciences (5.53 years) and social sciences (4.98 years) had the highest rates.
Findings on the average of citations per paper reveal that clinical medicine (267.2 citations) and space sciences (15 citations) had the highest and lowest rates respectively. Moreover, papers published in the field of molecular biology and genetics (313.86) were ranked as the most used whereas those covering the subject of space sciences (5) were the least used.
Table 2. Features of Highly Cited Papers Written by Iranians in Various Subject Areas
|
Scientific Field |
Number of Highly Cited Paper |
Average lifespan |
Average Citation Rate |
Total Number of Citations |
Average Use of the Paper |
|
Agriculture |
59 |
3.19 |
47.42 |
3.19 |
59 |
|
Biology and Biochemistry |
14 |
4.68 |
182.5 |
2555 |
101.29 |
|
Chemistry |
120 |
3.72 |
135.23 |
16227 |
128.39 |
|
Computer Sciences |
46 |
3.37 |
56.58 |
3225 |
35.48 |
|
Clinical Medicine |
57 |
3.84 |
267.02 |
12283 |
105.33 |
|
Economics and Trade |
1 |
1.58 |
25 |
25 |
155 |
|
Engineering |
354 |
3.69 |
63.17 |
22362 |
42.35 |
|
Ecology and the Environment |
13 |
4.30 |
142.69 |
1855 |
244.69 |
|
Geology |
18 |
2.63 |
88.06 |
1585 |
57.06 |
|
Immunology |
3 |
3.88 |
137.67 |
413 |
74 |
|
Materials Science |
27 |
4.34 |
122.59 |
3310 |
94.5 |
|
Mathematics |
112 |
4.57 |
51 |
5712 |
9.55 |
|
Microbiology |
1 |
8.58 |
224 |
224 |
27 |
|
Molecular Biology and Genetics |
8 |
2.35 |
241.88 |
1935 |
313.86 |
|
Neuroscience |
3 |
3.86 |
143.67 |
431 |
69 |
|
Pharmacology and Toxicology |
14 |
4.98 |
174.14 |
2438 |
126 |
|
Physics |
101 |
3.41 |
133.94 |
13528 |
102.17 |
|
Plant and Animal Sciences |
9 |
5.53 |
100.67 |
906 |
66.56 |
|
Psychiatry and Psychology |
3 |
3.83 |
69.33 |
208 |
15 |
|
Social Sciences |
11 |
4.98 |
96.18 |
1058 |
32.18 |
|
Space Science |
2 |
1 |
15 |
30 |
5 |
|
Interdisciplinary Sciences |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
The Formats of Highly Cited Papers
Table 3 reveals that the country had the highest rate of highly cited scientific publications (49%) as the result of the international collaboration of Iranian researchers with their colleagues from other countries. Also, the lowest rate (6.9%) of scientific publications belonged to individual works. Studying the research collaborations in each field shows that the highest number of papers written under international collaboration belonged to the field of engineering (119 cases) and that economics, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology and genetics as well as plant and animal sciences had the highest rate of research collaboration (100%), whereas biology and biochemistry (28.7%) had been ranked as the lowest. In addition, the highest percentage of national collaboration belonged to the field of psychology and psychiatry (66.67%) while biology and biochemistry (42.86%) had the highest percentage of organizational collaboration.
Table 3. The Percentage Rate of the Formats of Highly Cited Papers Written by Iranians
|
Major |
International Co-authorship (Percentage) |
National Co-authorship (Percentage) |
Organizational Co-authorship (Percentage) |
Individual Works (Percentage) |
||||
|
Number |
Percentage |
Number |
Percentage |
Number |
Percentage |
Number |
Percentage |
|
|
Agriculture |
20 |
33.90 |
23 |
38.98 |
11 |
18.64 |
5 |
8.74 |
|
Biology and Biochemistry |
4 |
28.57 |
3 |
21.43 |
6 |
42.86 |
1 |
7.14 |
|
Chemistry |
44 |
36.67 |
33 |
27.50 |
37 |
30.83 |
6 |
5 |
|
Computer Sciences |
22 |
47.8 |
11 |
23.91 |
9 |
19.57 |
4 |
8.70 |
|
Clinical Medicine |
50 |
87.7 |
4 |
7.02 |
2 |
3.51 |
1 |
1.75 |
|
Economics and Trade |
1 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Engineering |
119 |
33.62 |
91 |
25.71 |
124 |
35.3 |
20 |
5.65 |
|
Ecology and the Environment |
12 |
92.31 |
1 |
7.69 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Geology |
13 |
72.22 |
2 |
11.11 |
1 |
5.56 |
2 |
11.11 |
|
Immunology |
3 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Materials Science |
26 |
96.30 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3.70 |
|
Mathematics |
55 |
49.11 |
19 |
16.96 |
27 |
24.11 |
11 |
9.82 |
|
Microbiology |
1 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Molecular Biology and Genetics |
8 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Neuroscience |
3 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Pharmacology and Toxicology |
5 |
35.71 |
2 |
14.29 |
6 |
42.86 |
1 |
7.14 |
|
Physics |
76 |
75.25 |
4 |
3.96 |
8 |
7.92 |
13 |
12.87 |
|
Plant and Animal Sciences |
9 |
100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Psychiatry and Psychology |
1 |
33.33 |
2 |
66.67 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Social Sciences |
8 |
72.73 |
1 |
9.09 |
1 |
9.09 |
1 |
9.09 |
|
Space Sciences |
1 |
50 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
50 |
|
Interdisciplinary Sciences |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Total |
481 |
49 |
196 |
20 |
232 |
24 |
67 |
6.9 |
The Role of the Country’s Universities in Writing Highly Cited Papers
According to Table 4, the following universities and institutions have been characterized as the top-performing in publishing highly cited papers in Iran: Islamic Azad, Sharif, Amir Kabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran University of Science and Technology, The Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Babol University of Technology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz and Tarbiat Modares.
Top 10 Performing Universities in Research Publications:
|
Number |
Name of the University |
Number of Published Papers |
|
1 |
Islamic Azad |
234 |
|
2 |
Sharif |
88 |
|
3 |
Amir Kabir |
77 |
|
4 |
Tehran |
70 |
|
5 |
Iran University of Science and Technology |
61 |
|
6 |
The Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences |
57 |
|
7 |
Babol University of Technology |
51 |
|
8 |
Tehran University of Medical Sciences and |
51 |
|
9 |
Shiraz |
49 |
|
10 |
Tarbiat Modares |
38 |
Iran’s Frequent Co-Author Countries
Table 5 shows that out of the total number of international collaborations (481 papers) and among the 10 countries that had the most contributions to the writing of highly cited papers in Iran, the United States, with 197 papers and 4.96% of the total number of collaborative research papers, has been Iran’s major collaboration country which is followed by the United Kingdom with 126 papers and 2.26% and Italy with 109 and 22.66%.
Table 5. Top 10 Countries in Co-Authorship:
|
Number |
Country |
Number of Papers Iranians Co-authored by other Countries’ Researchers |
% Of Total Collaborative Publications
|
|
1 |
The United States |
197 |
4.96 |
|
2 |
The United Kingdom |
126 |
26.20 |
|
3 |
Italy |
109 |
22.66 |
|
4 |
Turkey |
100 |
20.80 |
|
5 |
France |
99 |
20.58 |
|
6 |
China |
96 |
19.96 |
|
7 |
Germany |
92 |
19.13 |
|
8 |
India |
89 |
18.50 |
|
9 |
Brazil |
84 |
17.46 |
|
10 |
Spain |
83 |
17.26 |
The results showed that the frequency of highly cited papers has grown significantly in the last ten years (2006-2016), and this confirms the scientific progress of Iran. Such a trend can combine the quantitative growth of scientific production of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is significant in some fields, with the improvement of their quality.
Figure 1. Comparing the Highly Cited Papers Written by Iranians (red) with the Global Average of Highly Cited Papers (green) in all Subject Areas:
Figure 2. Comparing the Highly Cited Papers Written by Iranian (red) with the Global Average of Highly Cited Papers (green) in the Field of Engineering
Reference: Proceedings of the Tenth Congress of the Pioneers of Progress.
Archive of The Thought of the Islamic Revolution
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