A Bibliometric Analysis of Political Participation Research in Iran

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Economics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Political Geography, Faculty of Geography, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Political participation, as a fundamental pillar of social development and cohesion, plays a significant role in the dynamism of civil society and the enhancement of social capital. Despite the multiplicity of sociological research in this area, the literature in Iran suffers from conceptual fragmentation. This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis and map the intellectual structure of political participation studies within the context of social transformations from 2015 to 2025. This applied and quantitative study utilizes scientometric analysis. The research metadata includes 591 scientific documents extracted from the national journals database. VOSviewer software was utilized for co-word network analysis and network visualization. Network analysis revealed that the conceptual structure of this field is configured into 11 clusters and 5 macro-streams (social capital and trust, political culture, electoral behavior, ethnic/gender identities, and new media). The core of the network is densely concentrated around the variables of “social capital” and “elections”. Examining the historical evolution indicates a paradigm shift from classical institutions toward social media activism, whereas fundamental concepts of social development, such as women’s participation, minority rights, and identity diversity, face academic marginalization. The literature on political participation in Iran, despite the dominance of a sociological approach, suffers from a kind of electoral reductionism, limiting citizen participation to voting behaviors. Overcoming this approach requires attention to more dynamic forms of civil society and the use of ethnographic methods for a deeper understanding of gender and identity barriers affecting participation patterns.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Strategic Research on Social Problems

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 11 July 2026

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History

  • Receive Date: 31 March 2026
  • Revise Date: 01 July 2026
  • Accept Date: 11 July 2026
  • Publish Date: 11 July 2026

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