Concentration effect of citation to Iranian papers: Iran's Matthew core journals

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to attempt to suggest an adjustment in Iran's national publication strategy based on the country‐specific Matthew core journals. It investigates Iran's performance in its national journal set, and proposes a more prominent journal subset. Design/methodology/approach – A citation analysis method is applied to study Iran's scientific performance in its national journal set. The data were extracted from the Science Citation Index at Web of Science and JCR and imported to SPSS for further refinement and analysis. Findings – The results showed that Iran experienced comparatively considerable citation loss. Surplus citations are concentrated in a small number of journals, presented as Iran's positive Matthew core journals. The results also confirm a relatively poor publication strategy adopted by Iranian scientists and that a publication concentration does not necessarily enhance the chance of being widely cited. Research limitations/implications – These findings imply that Iran needs to watch more vigilantly the functioning of its science system. To improve its presence at the international level, Iran should re‐orient its publication strategy towards a more prominent one. This may be the case for similar science systems, where the emphasis is given to quantity rather than quality. Originality/value – Country‐specific Matthew core journals, with serious citation competition, can serve as an important criterion to monitor the functioning of science systems regarding publication strategy. This is the first empirical study to employ the concept to suggest improvements in a country's publication strategy.