Mapping of Iran’s Red Crescent Society Research Problems based on Synonym Analysis of Scientific Outputs

Background and Aim: The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) is recognized as one of the ten most powerful national societies among the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies globally in responding to disasters and emergencies. The purpose of this study is to outline the research topics of the Iranian Red Crescent Society by analyzing its scientific outputs over the past years. Materials and Methods: The research is of an applied type with a scientometric approach and bibliometric analysis, which uses event network visualization techniques and synonym analysis. The statistical population of the study included all research conducted by the Iranian Red Crescent Society and articles indexed in the Scopus database since the 1990s. The synonym analysis of research titles conducted in the organization and article abstract information and data visualization techniques were used with VOSviewer, NVIVO, WordCloud and iThoughts software. Results: The trend of publishing research outputs has been upward. Analysis of outputs showed that Shiraz University of Medical Sciences had the highest output and the Gastroenterology and Liver Research Center and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences had the lowest output among the 10 most active institutions. Also, the Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal had the highest output, and among the topics related to outputs, the field of medicine was ranked first and the field of Multidisciplinary was ranked lowest. Among the frequently used words, “human” was ranked first. Identifying and drawing a map of research issues for this organization showed that the problem-oriented research topics of the Red Crescent Society were categorized into nine main areas, among which relief and rescue was ranked first with 21.4% and technology and innovation was ranked lowest with 4.6%. Conclusion: The study of the scientific and research outputs of the Iranian Red Crescent indicates the breadth and diversity of research issues in the subject areas raised. The status of research conducted in the map of Iranian Red Crescent issues by comparing the keywords showed that the research performance of this organization is higher in the fields of health services, relief and rescue, and education. Given the breadth of issues commensurate with its missions, it needs balanced growth in research and knowledge production in other areas.