According to the university's public relations: Dr. Mojtaba Heidari, director of research and technology affairs at Qom University of Technology, stated regarding the growth in the quantity and quality of scientific documents produced by the university: The number of ISI articles published by the university in 2015 and 2016 has increased by 70% compared to all ISI articles from the previous years (2014-2011), by 175% compared to the articles published in 2013 and 2014, and by over 400% compared to the articles published in 2011 and 2012. Additionally, the citations to ISI articles from Qom University of Technology in 2016 increased by 100% compared to 2015 and by 200% compared to 2014. Furthermore, the h-index of Qom University of Technology, which is one of the most important indicators for assessing the quality of scientific articles, has grown by 50% compared to 2016, even though the year 2017 is not yet finished, indicating an increase in the quality of articles published by the university's researchers.
The director of research and technology affairs at Qom University of Technology said: Currently, with a few months left until the end of 2017, each scientific document from the university has received an average of 2.5 citations in the Web of Science (WOS) database, whereas this amount was 1.9 in 2016, 1.33 in 2015, 1.17 in 2014, and 0.8 in 2013. This illustrates the improvement in the quality of scientific outputs over the past years.
He emphasized the role of faculty members in knowledge production and the academic standing of Qom University of Technology, noting: So far, 206 researchers have registered the name of Qom University of Technology in their scientific documents, among which 25 are international authors or researchers from prominent universities around the world. In total, about 13% of the university's articles in the WOS database result from international scientific collaboration with outside institutions. Overall, researchers from Qom University of Technology have collaborated with 62 universities, institutes, and research centers in their scientific production, of which they have established scholarly connections with 18 international institutions from 13 foreign countries, with the most collaborations being with institutions from the USA, Australia, Denmark, Greece, and Belgium.
Dr. Heidari responded to the question of how Qom University of Technology, as a newly established university, should enhance the quantity and quality of its research outputs, stating: In order to improve both the quantity and quality of Qom University of Technology, two indicators hold greater significance for ranking. One is the number of scientific articles, which is a quantitative indicator, and the other is the number of citations received by published documents, which pertains to the qualitative indicators. Therefore, a university that achieves higher scores in these two areas will have a better research ranking.
The director of research and technology affairs at Qom University of Technology noted the systematic planning in research, adding: To strengthen these two indicators, a variety of programs have been devised in the management of research and technology at Qom University of Technology, the most important of which include encouraging authors of outstanding scientific research articles, promoting collaborative articles with researchers from reputable international institutions, supporting scientific research articles resulting from inter-group collaboration among faculty members, revising the grant regulations for faculty members, improving the quantity and quality of laboratory equipment, constructing a central laboratory for the university, and encouraging applied research projects that lead to wealth generation. However, other factors such as research budgets, the number of faculty members, laboratory facilities, etc., also significantly affect the quantity and quality of a university's scientific outputs and should be taken into consideration.
He further stated: Studies indicate that 36% of the scientific documents from Qom University of Technology have received more than three citations. In other words, 64% of the articles have received fewer than three citations, of which 40% of the articles have no citations at all. Thus, alongside producing scientific documents, the quality of those documents must also be emphasized. Currently, the quality index is directly correlated with the citation status of the produced documents.
In conclusion, Dr. Heidari proposed several recommendations to enhance the quantity and quality of research activities, as follows:
1. Increase research budgets
2. Improve and upgrade research infrastructure
3. Promote a research-oriented approach and research culture in the university
4. Revise internal regulations
5. Create and develop research clusters, hubs, and research centers within the university
6. Conduct applied research and share the university's new scientific and research achievements with industry
7. Engage in research on hot and current global topics
8. Increase citations in articles: Utilizing more references in articles leads to a higher number of citations received.
9. Visibility of articles: The visibility of a researcher's articles significantly impacts the number of citations received. The more accessible researchers' articles are in credible databases and websites, the higher the likelihood of receiving citations.
10. Submit articles to reputable Q1 and Q2 journals: Submitting articles to prestigious journals with high impact factors increases the likelihood of receiving more citations.
11. Reputation of article authors: The reputation of the article authors, especially the first author, can influence the number of citations received for the article.
