Analyzing Scientific Outputs of Qom University Emphasizing Co-authorship of Researchers

Background and aim: For any progress, countries need scientific outputs, and that is only possible through research. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the status of scientific outputs of Qom University in the Web of Science (WoS), emphasizing scientific collaboration and mapping co-authorship networks. Materials and methods: This applied documentary study was conducted using scientometric techniques and social network analysis. The research population was 1222 documents of scientific outputs of Qom University indexed in the WoS from 2002 to 2019. Data were analyzed using Excel, Bib Excel, Isi.exe, SPSS 25, UCINET as well as descriptive and analytical statistics. Netdraw software was used to map the network, and the Spearman test was applied to identify the relationship between research variables. Findings: Findings showed that the trend of scientific outputs of Qom University in the studied years was upward, and the growth rate of total scientific outputs of this university was 39%. Most scientific outputs were in the fields of chemistry, engineering and mathematics, and 90% of the indexed documents were research articles. In terms of co-authorship pattern, three co-authors were the most one so that the most collaboration was with universities of Islamic Azad, Soran in Iraq and Payam-e-Noor as well as with countries of the United States, Iraq and Australia. Nasrullahzadeh, Ehsani and Bayat had the highest centrality in terms of index, closeness and intermediate, respectively. Moreover, the density of the network was 0.004, and there was a significant and direct relationship between scientific outputs and centrality indicators. Conclusion: In terms of growth rate, the scientific outputs of Qom University have no desirable condition, and in terms of co-authorship pattern, three co-authors are the most one.