Authors
1 MSc, Medical Library and Information Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Medical Information Sciences and Technology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction: Scientometric indicators are used for measuring and evaluating the quality and
quantity of scientific productions in the scale of individuals as well as institutions. The database
of Web of Science (WOS) is one of the most prestigious international databases for analyzing
scientific publications. This study aimed to determine the relationship between qualitative and
quantitative indicators of scientific productions originated by Iranian universities of medical
sciences indexed in WOS during 1999-2008.
Methods: Using an analytical method, the quality and quantity indicators of publications originated by Iranian universities of medical science were analyzed. Data collection tools were the
checklists that we designed in Microsoft Excel. The validity of the checklists was verified by experts. All dissimilar forms of university names were retrieved via Hist-Cite software. The search
strategy was conducted based on the obtained various universities names in the WOS database. A
total number of 15856 documents were retrieved. SPSS16 was used to analyze the data. KruskalWallis and Spearman tests were used to calculate the chi-square values.
Results: Analysis of data indicated a significant difference among three types of universities of
medical sciences in the term of quantitative and qualitative indicators. Moreover, the Spearman
tests showed a positive and significant correlation between quantitative and qualitative indicators.
Conclusion: The study indicated that the universities which produced a greater number of scientific productions also had more favorable conditions in the term of quality attributes such as citations and H-index. This may suggest that the universities have taken into consideration not only
the quantitative but also the qualitative aspects of publications
Keywords