Investigating the Motivations for Creating Links on the Websites of Research Institutes and Provincial Centers Affiliated with Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization

The present study aims to investigate the motivations for creating links on the websites of research institutes and provincial centers affiliated with Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO). The sample size was considered equal to population size including 23 websites of research institutes and 32 websites of provincial centers affiliated with AREEO in 2012. The study adopted a descriptive method and a survey design. The study was conducted using webometric method. The data was collected using a checklist to investigate the components related to different types of links on the websites and a researcher-made questionnaire to examine the motivations for creating links. The questionnaire was approved of in terms of validity and reliability. The results showed that the links on the websites affiliated with AREEO were primarily created for scientific-research purposes. Website developers reported that the main challenges to create links included the top-down prescribed nature of the link creation and language limitations of the websites. The results showed a significant positive correlation between the web links and scientific purposes (r=0.90), which supported the research hypothesis. The study ends with recommendations for researchers to conduct future studies on the topic.