Mapping Knowledge Structure of Quran and Hadith Studies in Iran: A Co-word Analysis

Using a co-word analysis, this study tries to map the intellectual structure of Quran and Hadith Studies in Iran based on the records in the Islamic World Science Citation Database (ISC) during the years 2006 to 2015. This is a scientometric applied research which uses co-word analysis. The research population consists of 3638 articles published in the journals of Quran and Hadith category indexed in ISC database. SPSS, BibExcel, UCInet and Vosviewer are among software that were used for analyzing and preparing data and drawing maps in this research. Results indicated that keywords “Quran”, “Nahj al-Balaghah” and “Imam Ali” are most frequent keywords in Quran and Hadith Studies. Moreover, “Nahj al-Balaghah***Imam Ali” is the most frequent co-word pair. Findings showed that in the time period (2006-2015), 11 clusters are formed in Quran and Hadith Studies. Also, based on the results of strategic diagram, the matured and well-developed clusters in Quran and Hadith Studies were identified. The lack of some Quranic key concepts such as Islamic ethics, philosophy and schools of Islamic philosophy, and the prophetic soul indicates that Quranic researchers have paid little attention to the mentioned areas.