Investigating the Factors Affecting the Faculty Members' Science production: A Case Study of Isfahan Payame Noor University

Science production is one of the major indicators for measuring the scientific performance of a country; therefore, investigating the norms affecting the scientific productivity can help to overcome the problems in this field. This study aimed to investigate the normative and organizational factors affecting the science production of faculty members of Payame Noor University. Accordingly, a questionnaire, validated both form-wise and content-wise, including the relationship between ethical values and normative factors in Merton's theory and some of organizational norms proposed by Bland & Ruffin regarding science production was drawn up. The statistical population of this applied research, including 320 faculty members of different branches of Payame Noor University in Isfahan province responded to the questionnaires. The results showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the faculty members' commitment to the scientific norms proposed in Merton's theory and their scientific productivity. The mean scores of respondents' perceptions of each norm showed that recognition or being recognized, communalism or collective ownership, universalism, humility, being beneficiary or disinterested, originality, and organized skepticism have all been considered by the respondents. The results also showed that there was a significant difference between the group climate, resources and facilities, university reward system, academic and cultural communications, level of English proficiency, employment status, academic degree, academic rank, the undergraduate topics and credits taught, and educational department as organizational norms with the respondents' scientific productivity. But there was no significant relationship between the respondents' scientific outputs and their gender, age, and marital status as the demographic variables, and their undergraduate teaching experiences and the university from which they have got their last degrees as educational variables. Members' Science production: A Case Study of Isfahan Payame Noor U