Identifying Credibility Criteria in Scholarly Communication (Reading and Citing) form the Standpoints of Faculty Members of Kharazmi University

Background and Aim: In effect, every scientific endeavor consisted of scientific communication and scientists’ involvement in particular field of study; and scientific board members as the most outstanding elements play a key role in scientific productions. Therefore, a constructive scientific communication requires obtaining credible and valid information. In so doing, this study tries to investigate the valid indicies in scientific communication (reading and citing) from Kharazmi University faculty members’ points of view. Methods: The study is a descriptive survery. The population included faculty members of Kharazmi University. Self-selected sampling was used. In other words, the questionnaires were given to all faculty members, some participated and some did not. Totally 130 questionnaires were collected. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire with a confirmed relibility and validity. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.20. Results: According to the results, the main credibility criteria used by researchers for reading an item were: topical relevance and validity of content and soundness of author's logic and arguments in paper. The main credibility criteria for citing an item include validity of content, topical relevance, and validity of data used in the paper. The main credibility criteria for using open access sources were peer reviewed quality of the content, and the reputation of authors. Quality of content is an important criterion both for reading and citing an item. Conclusion: With respect to findings, it can be said that faculty memebers evaluate the credibility of information in both study and in citing mostly on the basis of meaning of information. For open access materials, peer-reviewing and content were important. Thus, it is recommended that the all stakeholders and the persons involved in the scientific comunication system, set the quality control in proiority.