Journal of Research and Rural Planning -پژوهش و برنامه ریزی روستایی

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- Medicinal plants have a special value and significance in providing hygiene, health and food resources. Although the human attitude towards the products of medicinal plants has a long history, the issue of increasing the production of these products at the level of fields and gardens has taken on a new scientific form since the second half of the 20th century. The purpose of this research is to assess and measure economic, social, environmental sustainability of expanding the activities of medicinal plants in the rural development in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province.Design/methodology/approach- It is an applied descriptive research based on field data collection (questionnaire). The statistical population of this research included 13 villages in cold region of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province. According to a report by Natural Resources of the Province in 2022, 383 medicinal plant producers were determined and among all of whom the questionnaires were distributed. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and variance) and inferential (one-sample t-test and VIKOR model) were used for data analysis.Findings- The findings showed that the mean score of the social and environmental indicators is over the theoretical average value (3), while the mean score was 2.80 in terms of economic indicators. The results of VIKOR model revealed that Sepidar village with a VIKOR index of (0.157) has the highest rank and Sadat Mahmoudi village with a VIKOR index of (0.993) has the lowest rank in terms of the sustainability of the activities of medicinal plants among the villages in the study area.Original/value- This study is promising the activities of rural areas in the production of medicinal plants, which is considered as a strategy for diversification in rural settlements. Therefore, the results of this research can be given special consideration in recognizing the effects of medicinal plants in different geographical areas and have an effective role in the development of rural areas.

Purpose- How to move toward community empowerment is one of the most crucial challenges in local and regional development programs. This is essential for the role of women in measures and programs for sustainable development that is founded on environmental activities. One of the South Khorasan province's local development measures is the RFLDL project in Sarayan county, and one of its selected techniques for achieving the project's main objectives is the local women empowerment. This study aims to evaluate the geographical and spatial aspects of the effects of women empowerment in the implementation area of the RFLDL project in Sarayan county.Design/methodology/approach- The current research is practical in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature and method. Among the households whose women participated in the RFLDL project, 273 women was determined using Cochran's formula.Findings- The findings demonstrated that local women empowerment has increased greatly over the past ten years as a result of implementing the RFLDL project in the studied area. Women empowerment has resulted in improving the economic environment of human settlements and increasing the income of residents through the creation of small and home-based employment. In addition, self-confidence has improved, self-esteem has developed, and group participation has been promoted. The settlements are changing more and more in terms of ecology. Additionally, the development of human settlement ties and the strengthening of spatial links have benefited greatly from women empowerment.Research limitations/implications- The spread of the Coronavirus complicated efforts to collect data in the studied villages and significantly decelerated the article's production. Accordingly, surveys and interviews were conducted online to lessen the negative effects of this constraint.Practical implications- The development of human settlements and their transformations are significantly accelerated by women empowerment through spatial dynamism.Originality / value- The findings of the research are mentioned in this article, and according to the guidelines, the sources used, such as theses, articles and books all are cited. The use of traditional statistical indicators and the investigated villages within the RFLDL project's purview in Sarayan county provide the value and originality of this research.

Purpose- Initial and preliminary review of distribution of rural settlements of Qazvin province indicates a special pattern in this province (the densely populated villages in some areas of the province and being devoid of population in some other villages) which has been changed during different census periods and it raises the following questions: what factors have created such a pattern? Do ecological factors play a role in the formation of this pattern? Hence, the purpose of the present study is to answer these questions.Design/methodology/approach- The present study was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method. First, the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic was used to review the spatial pattern of rural residents' network in Qazvin province, then k'luster analysis method through edge removal (SKATER) was used for grouping rural areas based on ecological conditions, and finally using the obtained results, the correlation coefficients between the ecological factors and the spatial distribution of the population in the obtained ecological groups were calculated. Findings- examining the spatial distribution pattern of rural settlements of Qazvin province according to Getis-Ord statistic indicates a cluster pattern of population spatial distribution in rural areas of Qazvin province. This pattern has high density in some areas and low density in other areas. The central parts of the province which include the Qazvin plain, have hot spots, and the northern areas of the province which include the mountainous areas, have cold spots. Based on the ecological grouping of villages through SKATER method and calculated correlation coefficients, the highest impact belonged to the grouping related to access to underground waters (existence of aquifer) and the next ranks belong to the distance from the river and slope. This shows the high impact of ecological variables on the distribution of rural population of the province during different periods.

Purpose- Village as a residential system has always suffered a lot of damage due to natural hazards such as drought throughout history, and due to the dependence of the rural economy on the agricultural sector, any threat against this sector leads to the weakening of the economic foundations, the village and eventually the economic stagnation of the country. Therefore, the aim of the current research is to evaluate the drought-resilient measures to reduce the vulnerability of rural households located in Rastaq district in Khalil-Abad City, Khorasan-Razavi Province.Design/methodology/approach- The type of research is applied research, and the data was collected by applying a descriptive-analytical method by using documentary sources and field studies (questionnaire). The statistical population of the research is comprised of the heads of rural households living in the study area. As a result, 337 people were selected using Cochran's method. For ranking and spatial analysis of the village, Copras and Vicor techniques were used, and Shannon technique and SPSS software were used for statistical data analysis.Findings- The results showed that among the weights obtained from the paired comparison of the dimensions raised in resilience measures with drought in reducing the vulnerability of rural households, modern irrigation measures with a score of (0.290) have the highest score in resilience measures. Avarane took over with the drought. Finally, in the study area, Niqab village performed better than other villages in terms of resilience measures in dealing with drought.Research limitations/implications- Not having access to statistical information when referring to Jihad Agriculture and Governorship, as well as filling out the questionnaire depending on the topic at the village level and the costs of conducting this research are among the challenges of the present research.Practical implications- In the end, according to the obtained results, it is considered necessary to provide solutions for the resilience of rural households at the level of the villages of this district and to implement the solutions.Originality / value- The present research is significant due to its expression and recognition of different issues surrounding the resilience of households in the face of drought. An important step can be taken in the direction of reducing the vulnerability of rural households to deal with drought in the coming years.

Purpose- The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has an effect on development of Creative Villages as a new approach in using the existing rural capabilities and capacities to revive the rural areas. This study seeks to analyze the impact of RICT on the indicators of development of Creative Villages in suburban settlements in Mashhad County.Design/methodology/approach- A descriptive-analytical research method was employed in this fundamental study, and documentary and survey methods have been used for collecting the data. The study population included households in 8 villages around Mashhad (N = 20813). These villages had a rural ICT office and a population of over 1,000 households. The sample was estimated using Cochran's formula; accordingly, 194 households were selected by systematic random sampling.Finding- Spatial analysis of the main variables was performed using Combined Compromise Solution and fuzzy gray analysis. The result showed that the villages of Gorji Sofla, Hosseinabad Gharghi, Dostabad and Dehroud have the highest, and the villages of Kal Zarkash and Chahar Borj have the lowest level of use of RICT services and the indicator of the Creative Village. Using the partial least squares (PLS) technique, among the research indicators, "promoting and training" with the coefficient of 0.591 had the most direct effect on the dependent variable. Also, variable dimension of "awareness of RICT services", considering the direct and indirect effects, with a coefficient of 0.816, has had a greater impact on the indicators of development of Creative Villages in rural settlements. Given the value of R2 (0.998), we concluded that RICT has a high-level impact on the indicators of development of Creative Villages.