Publication of Agricultural Research Findings: A Pathological Analysis

The publication of research findings is one of the major needs of the scientific community. Accordingly, the pathology of the process of publishing and preserving its quality has priority. The lack of dissemination of the research findings, especially in the agriculture, leads to the lack of knowledge of researchers. On the other hand, the quality of research findings is important. In this regard, the purpose of this study was analyzing pathology of publishing research findings in the field of agriculture. The research method is descriptive which carried out by a survey for gathering data. The statistical population consisted of all faculty members and Ph.D. students of agriculture (6773 person) in the public universities of Iran. By using Krejcie and Morgan’s Table and three stage sampling 363 person were selected as sample (106 faculty members and 257 Ph.D. students). The data collection instrument was a questionnaire, which a panel of faculty members of agricultural extension and education confirmed its validity. The reliability of the items of the questionnaire was approved with calculating ordinal theta coefficient (0.72≤θ≤0.93). The damages of the publication of research findings were classified in three areas of publishing context (including the context of knowledge, ethics and attitudes), publishing structure (including structure of policy, investigation and acceptance, review process and printing) and publishing behavior (including behaviors of planning, organizing, writing, and reviewing) using three branches theory and their items were ranked as percived by respondents. Using factor analysis, four causative factors of data making and priorities, review process, principles of writing and resources and costs were extracted in the publication of agricultural research findings. At the end, based on the findings, functional recomendations were presented.