The review of the scientific productions of Iran in the field of military psychology and psychiatry on the Scopus database: A scientometric study by 2018

With the growth of science production in the world, it is crucial to analyze the status of the produced knowledge for use in scientific policymaking. The scientometric method is one of these analytical tools. Given the special circumstances of Iran and the extent of the impact of the imposed war on the Iranian people, one of the scientific fields that can strongly produce knowledge in the region and the world in the field of military psychology and psychiatry. The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of science production in the field of military psychology and psychiatry in Iran.

The present review has a scientometrical approach and the keywords related to the field of military psychology and psychiatry were determined according to the purpose of the study. Then, the Scopus database was selected as a valid scientific reference for the search of Iranian scientific products. Following the instructions of this database, the search was set by a different combination of keywords. The published sources were extracted and analyzed until September 27, 2018.

data production of military psychology and psychiatry was 52419 in the world, with the US producing 26318 (first rank) and the UK with 3510 (second rank) and Iran with 310 (18th rank). The top university in Iran in this field is Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences with 85 published articles and the largest contribution to the acceptance and publication of articles in the journals was Journal of Military Medicine (Iran) with 56 published articles. The highest citation in this field was for the paper published in the journal of Basic and clinical pharmacology and toxicology in 2006.

Given the history of the imposed war and its impact on the entire Iranian society, as well as the current special conditions of the West Asian region and North Africa, there are great opportunities for research in the field of military psychology and psychiatry. Despite Iran's growing research in this field, Iranian researchers can play a greater role in producing knowledge in this field. The findings of this study show that Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences has been a pioneer in the production and dissemination of knowledge in this field. Therefore, it seems that with careful planning, other military universities can be activated in this field and can also take serious steps in applying this knowledge in the next step.