shortcomings of evaluation worksheets for scientific art articles in iran based on merton's science norms

The scientific journal assessment worksheets are the most important tool for evaluating the quality of scientific papers. The purpose of this research is an objective and qualitative description of indices used in the worksheets for the evaluation of art scientific research journals in Iran and to acknowledge their shortcomings in comparison with the norms of science from the Robert King Merton's perspective. The research approach in this study is combining survey and content analysis. Statistical samples consisted of nine worksheets developed for the evaluation of specialized art journal articles with a scientific research rank. Moreover, 14 experts in the fields of Scientometrics and art were invited to provide feedback on the extent to which the evaluation criteria used in the evaluation worksheets are in conformity with Merton’s science norms. Data collection was done in two forms including library research, referring to scientific journal databases, and structured interviews. In order to uncover the existing status of the indicators from the researcher-made check list, Excel software and a questionnaire were used as research instruments. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics along with relevant tables and charts. Findings of the research show that out of the total 53 existing indicators, the index of "using sufficient and new valid sources (internal and external)" had the highest frequency (77.78%). The findings also indicated that the other 26 indicators had the lowest frequency percentage (11.11%). Moreover, these indices are consistent with the six out of seven of Merton's science norms (less than 18%). The obtained results revealed the unbalanced distribution of components and indicators of evaluation in these worksheets and their non-conformance to the norms of science, necessitating their revision.