A Framework for Description and Measurement of National Scientific Wealth with a Case Study on Iran

Abstract

A sustainable development in science, innovation, and technology requires a balanced distribution of scientific wealth in sub-country regions. This paper addresses the issue of geographical distribution of scientific wealth and its goal is to offer a framework to describe and measure the share of provinces in national scientific wealth. Our proposed model divides the indicators of scientific wealth into two groups, production and the use of scientific wealth. To evaluate this model, the scientific wealth of Iran was studied using recorded data on IRANDOC databases. Rich, average, and poor provinces were identified and the results showed that 70% of the scientific wealth belongs to 20% of the provinces. The findings can facilitate planning for a sustainable science and technology policy.