The trend of scientific research analysis on climate change in Iran

Researchers investigate and identify the gaps and frequency of studies related to specific knowledge by using scientometrics. The purpose of this study was to analyze the trend of scientific research in the field of climate change in Iran.

All articles affiliated with Iran in the field of climate change have been cited in Scopus databases from 1991 to December 9, 2019, and were retrieved by using keywords like "climate change", "global warming", "global change", "climate variability", "greenhouse gas". The data were analyzed using R software.

The total number of documents was 2253. The trend of document production in the field of climate change in Iran follows an increasing exponential trend. Iran's collaboration with other countries in the field of climate change studies was significant so around 25% of scientific productions have been produced jointly with other countries. Keywords analysis showed a greater frequency for keywords including “downscaling”, “energy”, “global warming” and “uncertainty”. However, despite the importance of issues such as “adaptation” and “vulnerability” concerning climate change in Iran, the frequency of these keywords in climate change studies in Iran is low.

Based on the results of this study and considering the importance of climate change and its effects on the country, also the importance of greenhouse gases including CO2, and the rank of Iran as the eighth country in the emission of these gases, it is recommended to pay more attention to issues such as “vulnerability”, “adaptability”, analysis of “greenhouse gases production”, “management of energy consumption” and the use of “renewable energies” in future studies.