سعید نصیری زارع

Purpose- Scientific papers are presented for benefit in journals. The studies are carried out academically and in accordance with the needs of society. Therefore, examining them is essential to journals and academics. This paper aims to analyze the articles of the Journal of Rural Planning and Research and the connection of these articles with the challenges and obstacles of rural development.Design/methodology/approach- Scientometrics research was the basis of the current research. Scientometrics is defined as quantitatively studying science or measuring the quality and impact of research. As a field, Scientometrics uses statistical methods and techniques to quantify research and achievements to reveal the research development process and can be a tool for decision-making. The main themes include measuring research quality and impact, citation processes, mapping scientific fields, and using indicators in research policy and management. The method of collecting information was from libraries and the citation database in the "Publish or Perish" software program. The indexes of "Network Density", "Centrality Degree", "Betweenness Centrality", "Eigenvector" and "Clustering Coefficient", as well as "H-Index", were used in this study. Ravar Matrix was used to prepare the self-interaction matrix, and Ucinet and Gephi were used to analyze the indicators and make graphs. Also, the co-occurrence of the keywords of the articles was the basis for identifying the topics of the articles.Findings- Journal of Rural Research and Planning (JRRP), has published 348 articles in 10 volumes and 35 issues. Authors such as Anabestani, Barghi and Rezvani had the highest number of connections in the collaboration network. On the other hand, researchers like Taghdisi, Anabestani, Afrakhteh and Bouzarjomehri are the most influential authors of the Journal. Moreover, the main topic of the papers is Economic Development in rural areas. According to the changes and evolution of the leading research topics, the issue of sustainable development has been one of the main research approaches in the last few years. After that, studies have been conducted more on sustainable livelihood development, connected with other topics.Originality / value- Neglecting social and cultural challenges seems to be the common shortcomings of rural research besides rural development programs in Iran. This issue indicates the need for more integration in research and calls for attention in development programs.

Purpose - Value chain development is an approach to rural economic development, which promotes the development of businesses and farmers' access to the market, reduces poverty, increases income and sustains food security in rural areas. Design/Methodology/Approach - This study is mixed qualitative-quantitative research, and applied research and in terms of purpose. A non-probability sampling method was used in the research. The main method of collecting research data was semi-structured interviews with the selected sample. The interviews were continued until the theoretical saturation. At the end, 38 individuals participated in the interviews. Interview notes were classified and analyzed in three stages: open, central and selective coding. Ultimately, 20 respondents were selected to answer the questionnaires after reviewing the content. The data of the questionnaires were collected and combined as a direct input matrix in MICMAC Findings- Barriers to olive value chain efficiency were identified: 30 criteria, 10 subcategories and 5 main categories. The efficiency of the olive value chain in Tarom County depends on a proper marketing management, providing infrastructure, policymaking, planning and also the organizations and trade unions. These factors were the most important and influential factors that had high cohesion and influence among other factors. In contrast, variability of the purchase and sale price, taking advantage of buying the product below the price by the middlemen, pre-sale of the product by farmers, more product waste during storage, transferring the olives to processing factories in the county are the dependence criteria. Practical implications - Given that the olive value chain in Tarom County is not efficient, its efficiency depends on a proper marketing management, providing infrastructure, policymaking, planning and also the organizations and trade unions. Most of the mentioned factors are dependent on the institutional actors and agricultural managers, and indicates their important role in enhancing the productivity of the olive value chain. Originality/Value- The results of this research can be a good way to solve problems and obstacles to agricultural development in rural areas.