Co-Authorship Patterns and Networks in Pharmacology and Pharmacy in Iran

This study aimed at investigating scientific collaboration and analyzing co-authorship networks in pharmacology and pharmacy research studies in Iran. Data used for this scientometric study included all pharmacology and pharmacy documents of Iran, indexed in Web of Science (WOS) from 2003 to 2014 and were analyzed using citation analysis section of WOS and Excell and SPSS. Citespace, and Gephi softwares were used for visualization and analysis of co-authorship network. The dominant co-authorship pattern was four-author pattern, with collaboration index, degree of collaboration and collaboration coefficient of 4.49, 0.96 and 0.691 respectively. The obtained density for co-authorship network and the clustering coefficient mean were 0.3 and 0.306 respectively. Despite the fact that the collaboration index in the field of pharmacology and pharmacy was much greater compared to other fields, the networks' total average density signified a great sparseness of co-authorship network. The clustering coefficient mean indicated that the network members' tendency towards forming different clusters was relatively low. There was no meaningful relationship between collaboration index and the number of productions as well as collaboration index and the citation impact. Authors indicated a greater tendency towards co-authorship. It is recommended that senior officials in scientific communities pay more attention to scientific collaboration activities, allocation of budget and appropriate facilities, and providing suitable circumstance to encourage more collaboration. It is recommended also, researchers pay more attention to constant team working with colleagues and students