Document Type : Original Article
Author
Faculty member/ Agricultural Research, Education & Extension Organization (AREEO)
Abstract
Purpose: The scientific activity of researchers in the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO) was subjected to study by altmetrics in scientific social network, ResearchGate.
Methodology/Approach: This survey was applied in terms of purpose and scientometric methodology with altmetric approach. Relevant data were obtained from the AREEO's scientometric database 2010-2020, as well as the altmetric data from 852 researchers' members of the ResearchGate scientific social network as the holder of the most numerous members and audiences among the scientific social networks in research institutes, national research centers and provincial research centers of the organization. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics included the frequency and mean of each of the indicators measured in the ResearchGate network. Inferential statistics (Spearman correlation tests, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests) were also used to measure the relationships and the presence or absence of differences between the studied variables.
Findings: The results showed that nearly one quarter of the researchers of the population were members of the ResearchGate network. Altmetric data showed that there was a direct relationship between the level of activity in ResearchGate and the academic rank of faculty members; with the increase of academic rank in faculty members, the amount of their scientific activity had also increased. The correlation between R. G. score respectively with citations (0.862), observations (0.813) and writings (0.799) was the strongest among its other indicators, but the weakest with questions (0.124) and answers (0.280).
Conclusion: The participation of the researchers in scientific social networks as a complementary research tool is an informal and non-mandatory scientific professional activity that can be inferred as a sign of potential capacity and desire for more activity to increase the visibility of their works, citations and scientific cooperation. This will increase their scientific activity and access to up-to-date knowledge, and consequently will increase the productivity. Therefore, informing and creating mechanisms by the managers of the bodies are recommended in this field to encourage the researchers to increase the quantity and quality of their scientific outputs.
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