Interpretive Structural Modeling of Strategic Control Components of General Science and Technology Policies

Annually, extensive budgets and resources in various public and private sectors are dedicated to science and technology related affairs in our country. In order to manage science and technology institutions, Science and technology policymakers (including budget allocations) need to assess those institutions scientific performances. Currently, to strategically control science and technology, existing issues are regarded separately, and their inter-correlation is mostly neglected. Hence, in this study, after listing macro indicators of science and technology measurements, we seek to discover the relationship between these indicators and their classification in different levels. The present study is developmental and descriptive-survey in terms of purpose and method, respectively. The target experts consist of eleven authorities and specialists of the desired subject and they have been purposely selected. In this regard, alongside interviewing the experts and using interpretive structural modeling, these indicators are categorized into five levels. “Financial sources” possesses the highest level of independence, followed by “higher education and its orders”. “Human resources” and “Infrastructure” are ranked third, and “Science production”, “Institutional environment and framework” and “science and technology promotion” belong to the second level of the model. Ultimately, “networking and interactions” and “economic achievements” are placed in the first level, which includes the most dependent factors.