Scientific Collaboration Network in Arabic Literary Criticism Articles: A Structural, Clustering, and Author Interaction Analysis

Introduction: In recent decades, scientific collaborations and research networks have become fundamental pillars of academic progress and development. These collaborative efforts not only facilitate the exchange of knowledge but also significantly enhance the quality and quantity of scientific outputs, fostering stronger inter-university connections. Within the humanities, and particularly in literary criticism, such collaborations have the potential to forge innovative links between scholars and open up new possibilities for analyzing and interpreting texts. Against this backdrop, exploring the patterns of scholarly collaboration in Arabic literary criticism—one of the leading branches of literary studies—provides a valuable lens for identifying research trends, strengths, and gaps in this field. This study aims to analyze the collaborative behaviors of authors and institutions contributing to research in Arabic literary criticism.

Methodology: This applied research employs a combination of citation analysis, scientometrics, and social network analysis. The study's dataset includes 4,096 articles on Arabic literary criticism indexed in Islamic World Science & Technology Monitoring and Citation Institute (ISC). Relevant keywords were used to extract data, which were subsequently analyzed using tools such as Bibexecl, SPSS, Ravar PreMap, UCInet, and NetDraw.

Results and discussion: The results reveal that collaborative authorship dominates this field, with approximately 77.03% of articles being co-authored. This indicates a strong preference among researchers for group-based studies. Moreover, nearly half of these collaborative articles were co-authored by two contributors, reflecting a notable inclination toward joint authorship. These findings align with prior research, underscoring a broader trend of teamwork among authors in this domain.

A critical component of this study is the examination of intra- and inter-institutional collaboration. The findings suggest that most collaborations occur within institutions, as researchers frequently choose to work with colleagues from their own universities. This trend can be attributed to geographic proximity, which significantly facilitates scientific interactions and knowledge sharing. Despite advances in communication technologies, inter-institutional collaborations have yet to surpass intra-institutional partnerships in prevalence.

The analysis of centrality metrics revealed a significant variation in the centrality scores among authors. Researchers with higher degree centrality scores benefit from greater opportunities and alternatives compared to others, as they have more options available for collaboration and selection. This advantage grants them independence, reducing their reliance on specific roles or connections. In other words, these researchers occupy prominent positions within the network, and their numerous connections provide them with multiple pathways to meet their needs. If one connection is severed, they can maintain relationships with other researchers. Consequently, researchers with high degree centrality have maximum access to the entirety of the resources and information shared within the network, as well as a superior ability to retrieve information.

According to the degree centrality index, authors such as Khalil Parvini, Konra Roshanfekr, Framarz Mirzaei, Ali Salimi, and Jahangir Amiri are more influential than other authors in the field of Arabic literary criticism. The degree centrality measure emphasizes the shortest paths from each node to all others in the co-authorship social network within this domain. Findings from the closeness centrality metric indicate that authors such as Kobra Roshanfekr, Khalil Parvini, Isa Motaghi-Zadeh, Hadi Nazari Monazzam, and Faramarz Mirzaei exhibit the highest levels of closeness centrality. These results also highlight the strong cohesion of the network among scholars in this field, demonstrating that researchers are well-connected. This high closeness centrality ensures that researchers in this domain can make optimal use of the knowledge available within the network.

Additionally, the betweenness centrality index identifies authors such as Kobra Roshanfekr, Hamed Sedghi, Morteza Zare-Barmi, Khalil Parvini, and Ali Asghar Habibi as more influential compared to others. These authors play a pivotal role in controlling interactions and influence the flow of information among researchers. High betweenness centrality enables these authors to act as intermediaries in communications between other researchers.

In summary, the analysis of the co-authorship social network among scholars in Arabic literary criticism reveals that researchers affiliated with prominent, highly ranked universities hold superior positions within the network. They exhibit significantly greater power and influence compared to authors from other institutions.

Conclusion: The findings of this study provide actionable insights for policymakers and university administrators. Strategies aimed at fostering international collaborations and strengthening research interactions can help overcome geographic barriers and pave the way for new channels of knowledge exchange and scientific cooperation. Such initiatives, particularly in the field of Arabic literary criticism, hold the potential to significantly broaden the global impact of scholarship. Additionally, the study underscores the importance of prioritizing and supporting international collaborations to elevate the quality of research and amplify the flow of knowledge across borders.This is because these universities have greater access to scientific resources, research infrastructure, and more specialized human capital. Moreover, active researchers play a key role in shaping the flow of scientific output through their participation in academic networks and consistent knowledge production.



Keywords: Scientific collaboration, Arabic literary criticism, scientometrics, co-authorship, social network analysis.