A comparative study on the scientific outputs of agricultural faculty members at State Universities in Khuzestan

Background and aim: Today, the scientific outputs of universities are quantitatively and qualitatively measured using scientometrics on which the scientific progress of these institutions is evaluated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the scientific outputs of agricultural colleges in State Khuzestan Universities during 1989-2008 and to assess the scientific status of these institutions. Material and methods: This descriptive-analytical survey was performed using scientometrics. A checklist, Web of Science (WoS) and research report were used to gather the data. The study population consisted of 128 faculty members working in the Faculties of Agriculture in Shahid-Chamran University, Ramin (Khuzestan) Agricultural and Natural Resources and Behbahan Natural Resources. Findings: The results of the research showed that the total scientific outputs of all three institutes were 5715 titles, and had the growing trend the studied period. The most scientific documents with 1445 titles (about 25% of the total scientific output) were produced in 2008. Pearson correlation coefficient indicated that there was a significant relationship between scientific degree, work experience and scientific outputs (p≥0.000). Conclusion: The trend of scientific outputs of the studied institutions was growing. Educational groups of agronomy and plant breeding, animal sciences and plant protection had more scientific outputs than other groups.