نشریه رهیافت
پیاپی 88 (زمستان 1401)

With the growth and development of human societies and their scientific (and technical) differences from each other, the discussion about which person or society is in charge of leading science and others are following it is raised. As a result, the discussion of leadership or "scientific leadership" is formed.During the history of human civilization, at least three great civilizations found a position of scientific authority: Greek civilization, Islamic civilization, and Western civilization. Iran excelled scientifically in two periods. Ancient period and Islamic period. After that, Iran stopped and did not progress in the scientific field; Or he was not in a position of leadership. From the 11th century to the end of the 13th Hijri, in many branches of natural science, a kind of retrogression can be seen. With the establishment of new universities, Iran got acquainted with new knowledge. At first slowly and then more quickly, Iran's role in the production of global science, as a follower partner, was gradually formed. In the last few decades, with the accelerated and widespread publication of the research results of Iranian university researchers, in the form of scientific articles, a kind of scientific self-belief emerged. Despite the amazing scientific progress of the last few decades, scientific education and research in most fields of knowledge are carried out with the examples provided by others. Such a situation puts Iran in the position of follower, student, and imitator. Now the discussion is about how to reach the position of leadership and competence in science and technology. This article inevitably raises the issue of scientific authority. In this article, according to the current state of science and technology in the country, an operational mechanism is proposed to achieve scientific leadership. For this purpose, historical evidence is used during the flourishing period of Islamic civilization. The study of the three leading civilizations led the author to the conclusion that the main reference factors of the mentioned civilizations are common.In any case, this article has based its analysis on using the experiences of Islamic civilization to achieve scientific authority. In connection with the scientific authority of Islamic civilization, two main questions are raised: A- Did Islamic civilization achieve scientific authority? B- If the answer is positive, what factors led to the achievement of scientific leadership? The answer to the article is positive by citing reasons and stating historical evidence. In addition, the main reason for choosing such an approach is that the old "knowledge" is part of the scientific and technical developments in the history of human civilization, with the proviso that it cannot be exploited directly. But the ancient scientific "character" that marked the flourishing of great civilizations, and the "tradition" that provided the foundation of civilization and scientific authority, can be designed and used. In this article, a part of the scientific character and tradition of the Islamic period, which played an effective role in its scientific authority, is introduced. The reason for proposing such a topic is that this legacy can be used to achieve scientific authority at present. By observing and searching, the author concluded that scientific authority is the result of the emergence and establishment of five main factors in society. These five factors of scientific authority are as follows: A- wisdom and knowledge, B- questioning and inquiry, C- pioneering, D- leadership, and E- stability and longevity. These factors are explained by mentioning historical evidence and some documents. In addition, it was emphasized that to achieve scientific authority in any society, reference-making foundations must be provided. In the article, four foundations of scientific reference were mentioned. They are as follows: A- leadership and governance of science; B- tolerance and social leniency; C- character and innovative traditions; and D- scientific governance. These foundations are also explained and analyzed by citing examples.It is clear that in the last three decades, a suitable platform has been created in Iran for scientific development, but a sufficient and solid foundation has not yet been provided to move toward scientific authority. The article emphasizes that the majority of the five principles have not yet been realized in Iranian society. Also, sometimes there is a huge gap between the current scientific situation and the position of scientific authority.Based on historical experiences and concerning the current state of science in Iran, things such as the main indicators of scientific authority, indicators related to being a model, and an operational mechanism to move towards scientific authority are suggested.In the last part of the article, the operational mechanism to achieve scientific authority is briefly suggested. For this purpose, some main indicators of scientific authority are introduced. National and institutional scale programs are suggested. Participating institutions are named to achieve scientific authority in the framework of the forward-looking national program. Special emphasis is placed on the main and important role of Iranian scientific academies in the issue of scientific authority.

One of the hopes of most country's higher education policymakers is to compete against world-renowned universities, and this issue has become more prominent in the past two decades due to the publicising of the various lists of the world's universities' ranking. The representation of this issue in the national development documents and its retelling in different governments, sometimes as a "resilience economy plan" and sometimes as "scientific diplomacy", all show the great interest of policymakers in the issue of improving the status of universities.Despite this hope, due to the lack of knowledge of the inherent and structural characteristics of these universities, not much success has been achieved. In the past years, the universities of Turkey and the universities of Southeast Asian countries were considered to be among the competitors of Iranian universities, but nowadays the newly emerging Arab universities in the south Persian Gulf countries have stolen the lead from Iranian universities by designing their promotion path.For this reason, in this article, evaluating the data and documents, the structural and functional characteristics of two categories of world-class universities (Pioneer universities) and the top universities in Asia (Fast-following universities) are examined and analyzed due to their important input indicators. These indicators are the number of students and faculty members; infrastructural indexes (budget and information resources) and output indicators (number of articles, international scientific relations, and inventions) and finally examining the relationship between these all indicators together. The status of these universities and their infrastructures are analyzed as the most important foundations of their reputation among the world's universities.These characteristics can provide appropriate policy implications for improving the status of the country's top universities, which is stated in the final part of the article. These propositions can determine the main development policies of the country's top universities in the 7th National Development Plan.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the layered analysis of obstacles in the way of achieving scientific authority at different individual, organizational and subject levels in medical sciences. The present study is a qualitative study of the content analysis type, the data of which is obtained from the integration of the findings of the review of related studies, interviews with experts, and data from group discussion sessions. Using a coded search strategy, studies related to the obstacles to achieving scientific authority in Iran were retrieved in databases such as SID, PubMed, and Scopus, And then their content, along with the content of interviews and group discussion sessions, were analyzed by framework analysis using the cause layered analysis (CLA) framework. The findings of this study examined the barriers of scientific authority in layers and at four levels. At the obvious level (litany), obvious issues and defects such as the lack of facilities and manpower that are visible at first glance were examined, at the structural level, defects and problems that are found in hard structures (organizations) or soft structures (laws and regulations) There are problems such as meritocracy or cumbersome rules and regulations. At the cultural level, the underlying problems and defects that exist secretly in every member of the society and cause problems at higher levels were investigated, including the weak spirit of collective work, insufficient belief in the principles of cooperative management, and lawlessness. And finally, at the fourth level of underlying beliefs and values, basic and very hidden problems such as self-conceit and looking outside, and believing in the superiority of the individual over the collective, which lead to the emergence of cultural defects and problems at higher levels, were examined. Identifying the existing obstacles on the way of scientific authority will play a significant role in developing a comprehensive road map in this direction. Therefore, reforming institutionalized values and beliefs at the level of society and universities will change cultural views and change people's attitudes and take effective steps towards scientific authority in the country.

Scientific leadership is one of the demands of Iran’s Leader and one of the major policies in the discourse of scientific progress in Iran, and in recent years, leadership in the field of science and technology has been explicitly and sometimes implicitly mentioned in the top documents and laws of the country. The current research aims to estimate the effective factors and strategies for realizing scientific leadership in the field of higher education in the country and to present a conceptual model related to it. This research is of a qualitative research type and in terms of its purpose, it is applied-developmental. For achieving the purpose of the research, the foundational data theory and the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin have been used. Foundation data theory is a theory that is directly extracted from the data that has been regularly collected and analyzed during the research. In the Strauss and Corbin approach, which is also known as the paradigm approach, the theory is usually presented in the form of a structural model. In this approach, three types of coding are used: open, central, and selective coding. The core codes are structure (including causal conditions, intervention and context (background conditions)), and process (including strategy (action)). The data collection of this research was done through interviews in the form of specialized meetings with 19 experts in the field of higher education in person in February 1401. on average, each of the experts answered questions in the meeting for about 25-30 minutes. The interview questions included key questions related to the statistics of factors affecting the realization of scientific leadership at the level of higher education in the country and appropriate solutions to achieve it. The results of the research show that the key strategies for realizing scientific leadership in the field of higher education of the country include assessing the needs and determining the priorities of leadership, mission-oriented higher education centers, supporting human capital, program-oriented scientific leadership of the country, international scientific interactions, discourse creation and promotion, commercialization of achievements. Science, freedom of action and independence are the most scientific centers, and national leadership, civilization and economic prosperity are among the consequences of applying the mentioned guidelines and realizing scientific leadership in the field of higher education in the country. In this framework, the factors affecting the central category, which is the realization of scientific leadership in the country's higher education, were examined in three dimensions: causal factors, intervening factors, and contextual factors, and strategies were proposed to achieve the desired results of the research. Causal conditions include the production of scientific creations, researches based on solving problems and visibility, which were identified as the main factors and fields for the realization of scientific leadership in the field of higher education in the country. This indicates that on one hand, researchers and technologists should seek innovation and expand the boundaries of knowledge, and on the other hand, they should be committed to internal needs and solving current and future issues. In this way, while keeping pace with the world's science and technology developments, the challenges and problems of the country are also taken into consideration and measures are devised for them. The development of the frontiers of science and technology will establish the leadership of the country at the international level. Solving internal problems will also improve the leadership of the education and research system at the national level. In this way, while keeping pace with the world's science and technology developments, the challenges and problems of the country are also taken into consideration and measures are devised for them. In this way, amending laws, regulations, etc. will be very helpful and guide the way. Scientific streamlining, scientific diplomacy, global access to scientific products, and branding are among the things that will affect visibility. For this purpose, encouraging faculty members to publish their scientific achievements in official circles, as well as an active and continuous presence in scientific social networks, will provide the basis for their introduction and recognition and will bring further benefits to them. Also, the results of the research showed that the most important effective factors in the realization of scientific leadership in the field of higher education of the country are hardware and software infrastructures, elite human resources, and investment and financing, and they act as intervening factors. Strengthening research infrastructures such as laboratories, libraries and access to international bases, developing and providing educational and research facilities, creating joint educational systems, establishing large laboratories and observatories, equipping universities, providing up-to-date laboratory equipment and facilities..., trying to attract and Maintaining elite human resources in the country's science and technology sector and providing sustainable financial resources for the higher education system are among the things that policymakers and planners should pay attention to in this field. The approval of the guidelines for the selection of educational leaders of universities and higher education institutions is one of the executive policies of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in the field of preserving human resources in this field. Investing in priority areas, non-governmental financing, financial support for universities, investment and financing for research and innovation, creating a special budget line for scientific leadership, etc. The realization of scientific leadership by experts has been proposed.

Technology authority has been mentioned explicitly and implicitly and with different expressions in the laws and science and technology documents of the country for many years. However, so far, no special theoretical effort has been made to conceptualize and clarify the different dimensions of this concept. In this regard, in this research, the identification of indicators and criteria, requirements, and policy solutions for the realization of technological supremacy has been addressed by exploiting the theoretical foundations and background of technological catch-up. In other words, this article tries to shed light on the issue of technological authority by using the theoretical background of technological catch-up and taking advantage of the theoretical developments made in that field to advance the goals of this research. The reason for using the concept and theory of technological catch-up in this research is that reaching technological authority in itself is a kind of catch-up with leaders and leading players in the field of technology, getting close to them, reaching their place, and in some cases leaving them behind. The last case is referred to as the "catch-up cycle" or "transition to industry leadership". The current research is applied research from the point of view of objective and qualitative research from the perspective of the approach, which was conducted to identify the indicators and criteria of technological authority and the requirements and solutions for its realization. From the point of view of the data collection method, the data of this research was obtained from two sources: First, the focus group with the presence of seven experts in the field of science and technology policy with the title of "Technological authority: from idea to practice". Second, the focus group with the presence of eight experts in the field of science and technology policy and industrial policy with the title of "Technology authority with the approach of economic complexity". Data analysis is also done by thematic analysis method. Thematic analysis is a method to determine, analyze, and express the patterns and themes hidden in the data and has been used by various experts in recent years to analyze policy and management issues. The findings of this research show that international patent registration, sales of technology and technical know-how, and the number of leading companies in the field of technology at the international level can be suitable criteria and indicators for measuring the realization of technological supremacy. Also, paying attention to the requirements of realizing technological supremacy in various fields, especially economic, social, cultural, institutional, and political, focusing on the necessity of being present in regional and global value chains, strengthening legal infrastructures, and taking advantage of windows of opportunity is necessary. In addition, formulating a suitable policy mix including objective and synergistic policy tools to achieve technological supremacy with an emphasis on human capital development policies, financing, social foundation, networking, and ecosystem development, strengthening international interactions, stimulating the demand side, and encouraging large companies to play a stronger role in the development of technology and innovation can be effective. As policy implications derived from the findings of this research, some policy recommendations are presented to policymakers, legislators, and activists in the field of governance of science, technology, and innovation: First, the definition of specific, quantitative, transparent, and measurable indicators and criteria for monitoring the realization of technological authority with an emphasis on international patent registration, sale, and export of technology and technical know-how, the number of leading companies in the field of technology at the international level, the number of technology standards compiled by the country's companies and research institutes and the country's ranking in global indices such as the Global Innovation Index (GII) and the Technology Complexity Index. Second, paying attention to the requirements and duties of realizing technological authority in various fields, especially economic, social, cultural, institutional, and political, focusing on the necessity of presence in regional and global value chains, international interactions, and cooperation in the field of development and commercialization. of technology, strengthening the legal infrastructure, taking advantage of the windows of opportunity, providing financial resources to support research and technology, paying attention to the necessity of forming and developing technological and innovation ecosystems, suitable and favorable political, social, and cultural context, national and international vision, coherence and integration in the national system of innovation and correct logic in prioritizing and targeting the fields of technology. Third, developing a suitable policy mix that includes synergistic policy goals and tools to achieve technological authority with an emphasis on education policies, preservation and development of human capital, financing policies and investment in research and technology, policies for improvement of legal infrastructure improvement, selective policies and technology prioritization, policies to promote social capital and increase social participation, networking policies and development of innovation ecosystems, policies to strengthen international interactions, policies to stimulate the demand side and policies to encourage large companies to play a stronger role in the development of technology and innovation.

Scientific authority is one of the keywords that are frequently used in upstream documents and macro policies of science, technology and innovation of the country, but usually appropriate evaluation indicators of its measurement are not transparently presented. Approval of the executive regulation of Iran's science, technology and innovation monitoring system in the Supreme Council of Science, Research and Technology (CSRT) in 2017 is a turning point in Iran's science, technology and innovation system. However, due to the soft nature and complexity of the fundamentals of the Humanities, monitoring and evaluation of science, technology and innovation in this field has been accompanied by difficulties. Therefore, setting a framework for the indicators of scientific authority evaluation in the Humanities is more important than ever before. From the perspective of the purpose, this paper seeks to provide an appropriate framework for monitoring and evaluation indicators of educational, scientific and developmental authority of the Humanities using upstream documents and related international experiences. In reviewing the background of the research, this section includes two subdivisions including the International Monitoring and Evaluation of Science, Technology and Innovation Experiences in the Field of Humanities (in which the experience of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, International Social Science Council, European Commission, British Academy and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences have been studied in the field of Humanities monitoring), as well as analysis of upstream documents related to the research (General Policies of Science and Technology Announcement of the Supreme Leader, Science and Technology Roadmap, Document of the fundamental transformation of education and also Document of the Islamic University) that the results extracted in accordance with the executive regulations of the system of monitoring and evaluation of science, Iran's technology and innovation has been examined. The research method in this paper is applied in terms of type, its basic strategy is qualitative and descriptive. For this purpose, both primary data (policy documents, reports, and international dashboards) extracted from study sources and secondary data (holding 8 expert panel meetings and structured interviews with 5 selected members of panels) have been exploited. In order to examine the findings, indicators derived from the analysis of relevant international experiences and policy documents (background review) following the executive regulations of Iran's science, technology and innovation monitoring system which includes eleven criteria have been investigated. According to the specific topic of this article, which is the explanation of the indicators of monitoring and evaluation of educational, scientific and extension authority of the Humanities, four categories of the mentioned regulations including a. general and professional education, b. higher education, c. scientific publications and d. promoting science, technology and innovation are considered. In the final section, the final framework of the indicators of educational, scientific and extension authority in the field of Humanities is summarized in the following four categories: General and professional education of Humanities (including quantity and quality of general and professional Humanities education); Higher education in the Humanities (including the quantity and quality of higher education in Humanities); Scientific publications of Humanities (including publication of books, quantity and quality of research, and quantity and quality of scientific articles in the field of Humanities); Promoting science, technology and innovation in the field of Humanities (including publications (magazines, and public books), events (specialized exhibitions, conferences, etc.), cyberspace (including databases, social networks, etc.) in the field of Humanities and promotion centers); The novelty of this paper's compared to the previous studies is considering Iran's peculiarities in monitoring and evaluating humanities toward attaining scientific authority. We also note that achieving the desired results in evaluation and monitoring of the status of scientific, educational and extension authority of the Humanities depend on cooperation and unity of procedural practices of the trustee organizations and institutions. It is expected that responsible entities, while executing their responsibilities, collaborate in collecting and analyzing relevant data to minort and assess scientific authority of humanities.