Comparison of Impact Factor of Technical Journals of Iran and Selected Countries

Obtaining top academic position among countries of the Middle East and having advanced knowledge and ability to produce knowledge are among the most important goals set in Iran’s twenty-year vision. Present study aimed to determine impact factor of specialized and technical journals of Iran and to compare with selected countries and provide appropriate recommendation. In this comparative study which was conducted through cross-sectional method in winter 2012، impact factor and quantitative indices of some Iranian published journals were compared with journals of twenty five countries. Countries were selected based on Islamic Republic of Iran’s vision. A checklist was used for data collection whose validity was confirmed using expert opinion and its reliability was 100%; because the variables were objective and consensus was present between two researchers on data extraction. Required data were extracted from 2009 and 2010 Journal Citation Reports® (JCR). Mean of Impact factor was obtained for each country using descriptive statistics. Finally، the countries were ranked based on total scores acquired by each country. Twenty five studied countries had 1440 and 1507 specialized and technical journals with 87 (6. 04%) and 124 (8. 23%) ISI indexed in 2009 and 2010، respectively. Growth of published journal in Iran، Turkey and Pakistan was 9. 7%، 4. 5% and 2. 1%، respectively in 2010 compared to 2009; however، this number for 2010 ISI indexed journals for Armenia، Turkey، Pakistan and Iran was 200%، 58. 1%، 57. 1% and 36%، respectively. Turkey، Iran and Pakistan with 20، 14 and 9 points، respectively were the first three countries among twenty five studied countries based on science production indices. This study indicated that Iranian scholars had lots of efforts in producing science in recent years، with considerable advances every year compared to previous year. To achieve goals of twenty-year vision، considering ISI standards، easy access of scholars to paper and journals and publishing joint papers should be placed in the agenda of the authorities and process owners.