Mapping Inter-field Studies and Interdisciplinarity in Iranian linguistics with ArcGIS Software

ArcGIS is a software program to depict geographical features as well as abstract concepts. Given the significant changes in scientific disciplines, the present study employs ArcGIS to represent inter-filed and interdisciplinary studies across Iranian linguistics. First, 1859 peer-review articles published in 47 Persian language (non)linguistics journals have been collected as the research data. Next, the articles have been classified in 15 fields and 7 interdisciplinaries. Then, maps were provided for fields, interdisciplinaries, geographical diversity and inter-fields as well as interdisciplinarity. The maps represent the frequency of articles in each field, interdisciplinary. The map designed for geographical diversity shows that the research on linguistics is centered in Tehran. The final map depicts the inter-field and interdisciplinarity of Iranian linguistics. It is believed that interpretation of such maps illustrates more popular areas of study and also research gaps. Such maps give a clear picture of the present time research and also a hypothetical image of research in future.