The Productivity and Characteristics of Iranian Biomedical Journal (IBJ): A Scientometric Analysis

BACKGROUND: Scientometrics is a discipline that analyzes scientific publications to explore the structure and growth of science. In this work, the quantitative evaluation of the productivity of the Iranian Biomedical Journal (IBJ) is reviewed. METHODS: The analysis was done based on a cross-sectional descriptive and an analytical scientometric study. Data were collected from PubMed, Scopus, and Scimago Databases (2000-2017). Scopus and Scimago were used for data search and feature analysis. Analyzed scientometric indicators included the number of citations, publications, CiteScore, SJR (Scimago Journal Rank), SNIP (source normalized impact per paper), self-citation, and Q (quartile) trend. RESULTS: The evaluation of 586 documents, published in IBJ from 2000 to 2017, revealed that most of these documents (99.7%) have been published in the areas of biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, which yielded to an upgrade in Journal Q ranking from Q4 (in 2000) to Q2 (in 2016). CONCLUSION: Nearly all of the scientometric indicators, evaluated in this study, were found on the rise. Therefore, a growing trend from Q2 to Q1 is predicted for the near future. It is recommended that the journal focuses on a specific subject area to improve the indicators and quality of the journal, in a timely manner.