A Scientometric Analysis of Iranian Knowledge Management Research in Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC)

Applying bibliometric indicators, this study tries to investigate the status of Persian knowledge management research based on the records in the Islamic World Science Citation Database (ISC) during the years 2008 to 2017.

This is a scientometric applied research. Bibliometric techniques and social network analysis are used in conducting this research. The research population consists of articles published in the field of knowledge management that have been indexed in ISC database during a 10-years period (2008-2017). BibExcel, UCInet, NetDraw and Vosviewer are among software that were used for analyzing data and drawing maps in this research.

The results showed a relatively steady growth in the number of knowledge management articles indexed in ISC between 2008 and 2017. “Akhavan P” is considered to be Iran's top researcher in the field of knowledge management in terms of the number of articles, citations and h-index. Also, based on co-authorship indicators, again “Akhavan P” owns the best position in the network. Moreover, results uncovered that 8 clusters are formed in knowledge management research.

Due to the diversity of authors from different disciplines among the articles as well as the variety of clusters resulting from co-word analysis, the present study confirms the theory that the field of knowledge management is an interdisciplinary one. Finally, based on integrative indicators, it can be stated that “Akhavan P” is the most influential researcher of Iran in knowledge management research during past 10 years.