Investigating the Effect of Spatial Proximity on Iran University- Industry Co-publications by using Gravity Model

Background and Aim: Due to the importance of scientific relations between university and industry, it is so important to identify the factors that affect these relations. So,the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of spatial proximity on university- industry collaboration. The collaboration indicator which is used here is University- Industry Co-publications. Methods: The research is done by spatial scientometrics aproach and the university- industry co-publications of Iran in the period 2010-2014 from Science Citation Index Expanded of Web of Science were analyzed. In order to to investigate the effect of spatial proximity the Gravity Model was employed. This model for collaboration implays that co-publication between university and industry depens on their total scientific output  and the geographical distance between them. Results: the research findings showed the significant effect of spatial proximity on co-publication. Conclusion. The findings of this research can be used in research policy making in the way that on the one hand, both university and industry benefit from the co-publication advantages by domestic knowledge flow and on the other hand the rsearchers be able to find propr reseach partner who are not co-located with them