Co-authorship network in cardiology research studies: case study of Iranian output

The basic objective of the study is to determine the co-authorship network of cardiology research in Iran. Scientometric approach was used to conduct the study. In the study, in addition to drawing the co-authorship network of cardiovascular articles of Iran indexed in WoS database, the researcher analysed the main cores of co-authorship network. Data was analysed by descriptive and analytical method. The centrality index which reflects the status of specific nodes in the network has also been determined. There were 2631 Iranian authors who published 1071 articles in cardiology. Density of 0.002 represents the continuity of the network and clustering coefficient of 0.51 indicates the willingness of the authors for research cooperation. Co-authorship network of cardiovascular area has a very large core. Tehran University of Medical Sciences had the highest degree and closeness centralities followed by most prolific and influential authors and the highest betweenness centrality was of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. It is essential to note that people with more papers and citations, are not necessarily the central and influential members of the co-authorship network. Those with a small number of articles and citations can be a member of the key group of the co-authorship network and they control the flow and dissemination of information.