Abstract
Background. Scientometrics has a significant impact on research policies, allocation of research budgets, equipping research centers, and setting research priorities. In the present study, pharmaceutical studies published by Iranian authors were studied based on scientometric parameters during the last decade (2013-2022).
Methods. Total number of the indexed articles, the number of citations, top articles in terms of citation rate, organizational affiliation, international collaboration, type of document, the number of retracted papers, titles of the journals publishing the articles, and the number of open access papers were collected from the Scopus database.
Results. The results showed that in the past years, the number of articles by Iranian pharmaceutical researchers was higher compared to the researchers of developed countries such as Japan and Switzerland, but the number of citations was lower. Review articles dealing with general topics that are among the trends in the pharmaceutical sciences globally have been cited more frequently. Type I universities have published the highest number of articles in the field of pharmaceutical sciences, and Tehran, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, and Tabriz University of Medical Sciences were at the top of the list. Iranian researchers had the highest number of international collaborations with the USA and UK research groups. Moreover, most of the published Iranian articles were original and review articles, but the number of indexed books or book chapters in Scopus was the lowest
Conclusion. The researchers of pharmaceutical sciences in Iran had a good growth in terms of scientometric indicators and international collaboration, and review articles were very important in improving the scientometric indicators. Based on findings, it is necessary for the research policy makers and granting bodies to support more qualified research projects, observe ethics in research, and encourage the publication of authentic scientific books or book chapters.
Practical Implications. Retrospective scientometric study of the subject areas is one of the most practical methods for measuring the achievement of research goals set in the subject area. This method can identify the strengths and weaknesses of the research area and enable national policy-making to make the research area more efficient.