Citation Analysis, Self-Citation, and h-Index in World Religious Studies:A Scientometric Study

The use of scientific indices to evaluate scientific outputs leads to improved prospective planning in different subject area. The aim of this study is to analyze the world scientific outputs in the field of religious studies based on SJR citation database.

The present study is a descriptiveapplied study using citation analysis. The research community consists of 104353 documents in religious studies from 175 countries, indexed in SJR database from 1996 to 2018. SPSS and Excel softwares were utilized for data analysis. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationship between quantitative and qualitative indices.

The results of present research have demonstrated that the average total scientific outputs is 3.596, average received citation is 3.1335, and the average self-citation is 8.601. The average H-index of countries is 6.5 that is higher for Iran than the world average(equal to 14). The correlation coefficient between the quantitative and qualitative indices of scientific outputs in this field is positive and direct and the highest correlation is between the two indices of citation and self- citation 918/0. In the case of Iran, the correlation between indicators is significant, positive, direct, and moderate.

In various countries, the distribution of citations and self-citations was not normal, and about half of the citations in this area were self-citations, but 55 percent of the countries' self-citation rate was below 20 percent