Analysis of the Degree of Congruence Between Articles and the Thematic Scope of Publications by the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology Using Text Mining Techniques

Purpose: According to the recommendations of the country's Scientific Publications Commission and the Research Policy and Planning Office of the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, all publications should adhere to the thematic axes outlined by the scientific publications. It is expected that the content of the articles will reflect relevant research and align with the scope and objectives of the publication. The purpose of this approach is to create a platform that enables the academic community—comprising researchers, authors, and readers—to identify each publication by specialized subjects. Therefore, this research employs conformity of articles to assess the scope announced by the journals of the Ministry of outlined in six macro-level thematic areas.
Method: The research has been conducted in a descriptive-exploratory manner, utilizing text mining techniques. The purpose of this research is to investigate the the current of the research
field, the results results will inform decision-making, policy development, policies. The statistical community of the research comprises 1,150 journals approved by the MSRT(2021), according to the journals portal. Due to limitations in time, human resources, and financial resources, it was not feasible to examine the scope of the articles from all journals in the current research; therefore, a sample size had to be determined. In this context, PASS version 11 software was utilized to calculate the sample size. Considering a confidence interval of 0.95, a test power of 0.80, and an expected correlation of 0.20, the software determined that the minimum sample size required is 116 publication titles. The intended sample size was determined using the stratified random sampling method, ensuring that the proportion between the sample and the population in each of the six macro-level thematic areas identified by the MSRT—humanities, technical and engineering, basic sciences, art and architecture, agriculture and natural resources, and veterinary, along with intermediate-level subject areas—was accurately represented. The required bibliographic data was extracted from all articles published in the last three years of selected research journals. This data was then pre-processed,
which included normalization and the removal of stop words. Topics were identified using vocabulary repetition and clustering methods. Finally, similarity measurements were conducted on the obtained data, followed by a knowledge analysis.
Findings: The findings showed that in 8% of the reviewed journals, the content of the articles was consistent with the subject range listed on the website by 95%. The lowest matching rate is 40%, which was observed in 20% of the reviewed journals. Among these, 47% of journals were committed by 60 percen, 23 percent of the journals, 70 percent and 2 percent of the journals were committed to declarative subjects.
Conclusion: Considering the role and importance of scientific journals, it is necessary to periodically evaluate them from different quantitative and qualitative aspects. The results of these evaluations can help the higher authorities and policymakers in the country's science and knowledge field in research planning, evaluation, monitoring scientific progress, and improving the quality of research activities. Also, those involved in journals can benefit from the results of these evaluations to improve the content of the journals and develop standard guidelines. It is important for researchers and those involved in publications to know in which journal their topic of interest can be accessed and published. Therefore, the examination of the topics discussed in the articles of the journal shows an objective picture of the existing conditions and the state of reflection of the research in that journal. As the thematic trends of scientific journals become clear, a clearer identity is created for each journal; So that every specialist can expect that a particular publication will cover the field of study. Also, editorial boards should try to publish articles based on the journals policy and subject areas while considering the course of the journals articles over time.