A Decade of Activity of the Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences through Scientometric Method (2010-2019)

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Extended Abstract
Background
Journals are one of the channels of scientific communication among experts in the specialized fields of human knowledge, and a tool for the rapid and widespread dissemination of new research achievements. On the other hand, scientometrics is a practical and appropriate tool for better understanding and mapping research processes and scientific research. Analysis of scientific output and products contributes significantly to the scientific development of various subject areas. It also enables researchers to become acquainted with the scientific gaps in research areas, discover credible field experts, and expand their research ideas with an open mind. This study aimed to analyze the scientometrics of a decade of the Medical Journal of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences publications.
Methods
This study used scientometrics analysis method and the Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach. The statistical population included articles published in Tabriz Medical Journal from 2010 to 2019 and indexed in the Islamic World Science Citation Database (ISC). We collected the required data by conducting an "Advanced Search" for the title of the journal on the Iranian Science Citation Index website and filtering the results to the desired years of publication. Using BibExcel software, data were processed for visualization and social network analysis. To prevent dispersion caused by the variety of writing formats, BibExcel matched the authors’ names and the articles’ keywords with a more frequent and logical format. For example, keywords were examined in terms of plural and singular forms, the use of synonyms, different written forms, the use of semicolons, and the use of written english style. Also, the names of certain authors were spelled differently, in order to prevent redundant records in scientometrics software, we modified and standardized the names based on the most popular name of authors to make the results more accurate. NetDraw was used to draw the co-authorship indexes. The indexes of centrality, betweenness centrality, and closeness centrality were determined using Ucinet. Moreover, VOS Viewer specified the co-occurrence network of keywords. To draw the thematic clustering network of journal articles, a threshold of 4 times repeating was considered eligibility criterion for keywords selection. By drawing thematic clusters, the thematic topics of the journal subset were identified.
Results
The Tabriz Medical Journal published 794 articles from 2010 to 2019. The number of authors was 1947. Also, the names of the authors have been repeated 3,111 times in a variety of articles. The average number of authors for each article was 3.92. The citation effect (average citation per article) was 0.36. Only 122 (15.36%) publications received citations and had an H-index. This indicates that at least one of their publications was cited, whereas 672 writers (84.63%) were not cited for any of their articles and did not have an H-index. The results showed that 21.56 sources were used for each article. Also, only 31 articles were single-authored, and 763 articles were scientific collaborations between two or more researchers. The co-authored template included four authors. There were 99 authors involved in co-authorship network, and each had at least 5 articles published in this journal during the period. The network consisted of three clusters with different numbers of nodes, with the largest co-authorship network including 92 authors (nodes) and the remaining clusters containing 5 and 2 nodes, respectively. The rank centrality index reflects the activity and reputation of a node in relation to other nodes in the network. The betweenness centrality index clarifies a node’s position along the shortest path in the network. The closeness centrality index (shorter path) measures one factor’s closeness to all other factors. It also calculates a node’s distance from other nodes in the network, and displays the average length of the shortest path between that node and other nodes in the network.Morteza Ghojazadeh achieved the highest centrality in all three centrality indexes (degree, betweenness and closeness). There were 2,449 keywords used in 794 articles, and were repeated 3,118 times in all articles. The most common keywords included "children", "rat", and "polymorphism", with frequencies of 20, 19 and 17, respectively. Thematic clusters included "quality of life", "type 1 diabetes", "aerobic activity", "antibiotic resistance", "breast cancer", "type 2 diabetes", "cardiovascular disease", "drinking water", and "stress and depression". In total, 89 homonymous pairs occurred between one and four times. The word pair "Escherichia coli - PCR" with a frequency of 4 had the most repetition. The synonymous network of repetitive keywords of the medical journal indicated the existence of nine thematic clusters between 2010 and 2019. The largest thematic cluster consisted of eight keywords and the smallest thematic cluster consisted of two keywords. The thematic clusters were: "quality of life", "type 1 diabetes", "aerobic activity", "antibiotic resistance", "breast cancer", "type 2 diabetes", "cardiovascular disease", "drinking water", and "anxiety and depression."
Conclusion
The results of this study revealed the effective scientific collaborations between authors based on the patterns of journal article writing. All thematic clusters complied with the thematic axes or the existing thematic specializations in the journal. The average citation per article was 0.36 %; indicating the need to improve the citation rate for the journal articles. The index of journals in international databases has a positive effect on the citation rate of journal articles. Therefore, it is suggested that new measures be taken to enhance the journal’s visibility and impact factor.
Practical Implications of Research
According to the results of the present study, it can be stated that in order to formulate a long-term perspective and strategy for the development of journals, it is necessary to evaluate journals using quantitative and qualitative scientometric indicators, and future planning should consider the results of prior journals.
Ethical Considerations
The present study was extracted from the master's thesis of Knowledge and Information Science approved by Payame Noor University, Tonekabon branch, number 11112397.Conflict of InterestsThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank all people who helped us.