Scientific collaboration in articles published by Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, indexed in Scopus from 2010 to 2014

Scientific collaboration is the process during which two or more authors share their ideas, resources, and data to create a joint scientific work. Co-authorship is an element in scientific collaboration. The aim of this study was to determine scientific collaboration in published articles by the Kurdistan University of Medical Science, indexed in Scopus from 2010 to 2014. This scientometrics study was conducted using the Scopus database. 425 published articles of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences were assessed from 2010 to 2014. The number of authors, the mean number of authors, the frequency distribution of authors, index of national and international collaboration, and collaboration coefficient among the authors were analyzed in the study. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the number of articles, authors, author’s ratio to the articles and the number of internal and external co-authors. And its formula was used to calculate the level of collaboration. Findings showed that 2219 authors participated in publishing 425 papers, 64 of whom (2.88%) were international authors. Collaboration index, degree of collaboration and collaboration confidence were calculated 5.22, 0.99 and 74.0 respectively. Three-authored articles and 15-authored articles had the most and the least frequencies, respectively. Scientific productions of Kurdistan university of medical science in Scopus from 2010 to 2014 are on the rise. However, the status of international collaboration is low (9%). Authors’ participation in national and international conferences should be supported to improve international collaborations.