purpose: Future research is about identifying, devising, presenting, testing and evaluating possible and probable futures in order to choose the preferred futures based on the values of the society and help to build the most desirable future. The production of science and technology is the most important factor in maintaining the survival, independence and progress of the country and a serious tool for competition in different world arenas. Based on this, the aim of the current research is to identify the factors affecting the growth of scientific products in the field of nuclear science and technology.
Methodology: The method of conducting this research is mixed and exploratory. In the first step, in order to extract the effective factors on the growth of scientific productions in the field of nuclear science and technology, research literature was studied in various sources such as domestic and foreign articles, internet sites, notes, newspapers, etc. And in the next step, interviews were conducted with subject experts to design the questionnaire. The mentioned questionnaire was given to three professors for the pre-examination and was edited based on their suggestions. Finally, after re-studying the theoretical foundations of related researches and applying the opinions of the professors, the questionnaire was edited and sent to the Delphi panel for answering. The statistical population of the present research in the Delphi panel is 13 subject experts in the field of nuclear sciences. To identify and select the statistical sample, the snowball sampling method was used.
Findings: Finally, the results showed that 32 main factors affect the growth of scientific productions in the field of nuclear science and technology. These factors were placed in 5 general categories. Among these 32 factors, 8 factors are related to experimental factors, 7 factors are related to managerial factors, 7 factors are related to cultural and social factors, 6 factors are related to political factors and finally 4 factors are related to financial factors. The Delphi process was completed in three rounds. Every factor that scored above 3 in the third round of Delphi was selected and ranked as an influential factor in its group. Finally, 23 factors managed to score above 3. Of the 23 factors that managed to get a score above 3, 8 factors are related to education, 6 factors are related to social and cultural factors, 4 factors are related to managerial factors, 3 factors are related to political factors, and 2 factors are related to financial factors. All factors related to education managed to get a score above 3, which shows the high impact of education on the growth of scientific productions in the field of nuclear science and technology in the future. The educational factors affecting the future growth of scientific productions in the field of nuclear science and technology are respectively: Increasing the training of laboratory skills (with 4.84 points), increasing the connection between education and research centers with the nuclear industry (with 4.1 points), paying attention to innovation and scientific discoveries in the country (with 3.85 points), strengthening the cycle of science and technology (with 3.75 points), designing specialized training courses (with 3.6 points), increasing scientific cooperation with prominent domestic and foreign scientists in this field (with 3.56 points), improving and improving the performance of the higher education system (with 3.31 points), more access to information sources of other countries in the field Nuclear Science (with 3.2 points)
Conclusion: The results of the future study of factors affecting the growth of nuclear science and technology products showed that education is the most influential factor in the upward growth process of products in this field. Therefore, it is necessary to make necessary policies in the country's education sector to achieve this goal. In general, since future studies provide a structured opportunity to look into the future and examine the role of effective factors in creating the future, it makes it possible to create a favorable perspective for decision makers and policy makers. By identifying and creating new capacities and capabilities, new horizons make it possible to take advantage of opportunities in the future. Moreover, with this approach, the problems and inadequacies caused by the future conditions can be counted and it will be possible to fix them.