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Abstract

Little research has been conducted on the status of the scientific community
within different disciplines in Iran, while scientific communities play an important
. role in the formation of knowledge and the reform of educational and research processes by creating a normative atmosphere and securing social control. Students' training is ineffective and production of knowledge is insignificant. These shortcomings, among others, are seen to be directly emanating from weak interactions and relations among instructors and researchers of various disciplines in the field of sciences. This paper utilizes- the sociological theories concerning the important role interactions and relations among knowledge workers play in the
improvel11ent and prO111otion of scientific activities. Upon the basis of the results of
research conducted on the relationships among some university instructors and professors active in different branches of social sciences in Tehran, this paper attempts to define and explain the status of the scientific community in the discipline. The findings of this study indicate that instructors and researchers
specialized in different fields of social sciences have little research cooperation and
that their relationships and interactions are very low at associational and organizational levels.

Keywords