A Survey of Knowledge Production of Iranian Researchers on AIDS: Evidence from the Web of Science Database

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge productions of Iranian researchers who had published papers on AIDS in journals and sources with impact factor indexed in the Web of Science between 2000 and 2010. The amount of scientific publications by Iranian researchers on AIDS in the Web of Science was studied with scientometric methods. 336 documents with at least one author affiliated to Iranian organizations were identified. The process of science production of Iranian researchers enjoyed an increasing annual growth rate of 30%. Iranian researchers had scientific collaboration with 22 international authors dominated by American authors. Tehran University of Medical Sciences contributed to almost one fifth of the scientific productions among national organizations. Most research studies conducted by Iranian researchers on AIDS were listed under the category of infectious diseases. 35% of the journals in which Iranian researchers published their papers were American journals. However, the journal, Hepatitis Monthly, published the highest number of papers by Iranian researchers. Iran’s share of journal publications enjoyed an upward trend internationally, and in this regard, Iranian researchers have remarkable contribution to international joint venture articles.