The study of the presence of Iranian neuroscience in ISI database based on scientometric factors

The purpose of this study was to analyze Iran's scientific status of neuroscience field in citation indexes between 2002 and 2008. In this descriptive survey, Web of Science (WOS) database was used for data collection. The Data were gathered from the subject areas of this database and then categorized in 14 subfields according to experts opinions of the field. Impact Factor and number of citations were the indexes considered to determine the citation patterns. Data analysis was performed by using HISTCITE, Excel 2007, and SPSS 18. A rising trend for neuroscience papers was observed between 2005 and 2008 with neuropharmacology being the most interested subfield of publication (264 papers). There were fewer papers on artificial intelligence, neurohistory, and psychopharmacology than other neuroscience subfields. Most international collaboration was seen in neurology field of study (46 papers). Iranian researchers had scientific collaboration with other countries in 168 papers in which Iranian authors were the first authors (58.33%). 87% of the papers were published in journals with an impact factor between 0 and 4. Researchers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences were the author of 25% of papers. As the progress in the field of neuroscience, in Iran, was mostly focused on the subfields of pharmacology and neurology, it is recommended to give high priority to other subfields in health policies.