Scientific Community in the Iranian Sociology; Moral Density or Anomie?

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Abstract

Given the dramatic increase in the number of published articles  of the social sciences - sociology in the recent years, it can be asked whether the network of scientific interactions in this field is going to be dense and indicates  its ethical density or not? To answer this question, using social networks analysis tools (Pajek software), the study with the library method aimed to investigate the three Journal articles: "Iranian Journal of Sociology", "Sociological Studies" (a former Journal of Social Science) and "Quarterly Journal of Social Sciences” of Allameh Tabatabai University during the years 2003 to 2012. Any article that cites another one forms a tie. A collection of articles (vertices) and the citation relationships (ties) between them form a citation network. The analysis of the articles citations network revealed a ragged and unrestrained society in the Sociology. Star network pattern was plentifully seen in the network. It demonstrated that the scientific community is a person oriented one. It was not seen a diligent path in the citations network which shows that a subject has been followed. Network density was very scanty. Based on these findings, it may be said that a scientific community in the Iranian sociology has not yet‌ formed.

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