Citation Analysis and Histographic depiction of Iranian Marine Science Outputs on Oman Sea and Persian Gulf

Abstract

Background and aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the condition of Iranian marine scientific outputs related to Persian Gulf and Oman Sea in Web of Science (WoS) during 1992-2013. Material and methods: Totally, 396 scientific documents were recognized in WoS with the limitations of time and place in the current study. Citation analysis techniques and HistCite software were used to analyze and depict the historiographical map of scientific texts. Findings: Findings indicated that all 396 documents written by 1036 authors affiliated to 313 organizations were published in 199 journals with 6 different formats in English language. Most documents were published by Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences. In addition, the growth rate of annual outputs was %59 and the collaboration coefficient was 0/68 among Iranian researchers. Generally, 5 and 6 thematic clusters have been formed in historiographical map based on the TGCS and TLCS, respectively. Conclusions: The results showed that the rate of the growth of scientific outputs on the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea basins have increased from one title in 1993 to 80 titles in 2013. The effect of heavy metals on sediment and marine livings, coral reefs and identification of aquatic species are the most important subjects of historiographical map clusters