Identifying the Trans-disciplinary Links in Articles Published in Psychology Journals (Case Study: Psychology Journals of Islamic Azad University)

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify the relations between the field of psychology and other thematic areas and disciplines in order to determine the extent to which this field was dependent on its own texts as well as other texts and disciplines. This applied research made use of a quantitative bibliometric method as well as citation analysis. The statistical population was composed of citations to articles written in psychology journals of Islamic Azad University. Regarding the articles published in the three active journals, it was attempted to extract 6990 citations from 211 articles. Then, the latter citations were analyzed using citation analysis. The results indicated that the mean citation for each article was 33 citations and English citations were more than that of Persian citations. Next, the periodicals and books received citations up to 62.4% and 24.4%, respectively. Besides, it was found that 82.1% of citations were related to psychological texts and 17.9% of citations were allocated to other disciplines. Furthermore, the majority of trans-disciplinary citations were related to humanities. The field of psychology had the strongest link with the field of social sciences and, then, educational sciences. In addition, 84% and 16% of Persian citations were related to compiled and translated texts. However, 17.2% of citations to translated texts were related to trans-disciplinary texts. According to the results of the research, it was found that the authors relied on non-Persian sources more than Persian sources. Besides, they were more dependent on periodicals and, then, books compared to other sources of information. The psychological texts had the strongest link with humanities, social sciences and, then, educational sciences.