خلاصة:
Based on citation analysis, this work describes the growth and interdisciplinary
patterns of nanoscale research in Iran. It covers all the Iranian ISI papers on
nanoscience and nanotechnology indexed in the ISI databases in 2008 and
surveys the corresponding data from the beginning to 2007. Moreover, in an
international context, a brief comparison is made between our data and those of
other countries. A substantial annual growth rate is obtained for the number of
publications and their corresponding citations. By the end of 2008, eighteen
different subject fields including thirty-eight disciplines comprised the
foundations of nanoscale research. The topmost subject field is chemical
sciences and the topmost discipline appears to be physics. Hence, nanoscale
research in Iran is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary endeavor (through a
convergence among basic sciences and engineering) that pervades among other
subject fields and/or disciplines starting with materials and physics and later
extending to chemistry and other areas. In an interdependent context, this is
possibly due to the dynamic nature and potentials of nanoscience and
nanotechnology. In general, nanoscale research in Iran resembles the overall
worldwide nanopublication patterns excepting the rather greater concentration
on the scientific over the technology orientations.
ملخص الجهاز:
Hence, nanoscale research in Iran is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary endeavor (through a convergence among basic sciences and engineering) that pervades among other subject fields and/or disciplines starting with materials and physics and later extending to chemistry and other areas.
Very recently, Baradar (2009) reported the mapping of nanoscience and nanotechnology in Iran by citation analysis of ISI papers during 1995-2007.
The 4 top subject fields in nanoscience and nanotechnology were manufacturing and transport engineering, physical sciences, chemical sciences and nano, respectively.
Similarly, metallurgy, physics and materials engineering appeared as the top three disciplines in the Iranian nanoscale research.
Findings Nanopubfication Growth and Types Figure I shows the number of Iranian publications and their corresponding citations on nanoscience and nanotechnology in the ISI databases per year for the period 1995-2008.
Again, compared with the report in 2007, thirteen disciplines containing food engineering, medicine, medicinal engineering, environmental science, biotechnology, textiles and fibers, dyes and pigments, industrial management, immunology, dentistry, information technology, health and geology are added to the domain of nanoscale research, while three disciplines, statistics, entomology and computer engineering (hardware) are deleted.
In general, it seems that the convergence between basic sciences (physics and chemistry) and engineering (materials engineering and metallurgy) has the lion's share in the development of the nanoscale research in Iran.
In a worldwide context, the disciplines mostly involved in nanoscale researches are chemistry, physics, biology, medicine and engineering with a clear increase in the involvement of chemistry in the recent years (Wong, 2007).