The Bibliometric Analysis of the Postgraduate Theses on Awqaf in Turkey (1984-2016)

Many academic studies have been conducted in Turkey on awqaf, which is one of the integral part of Turkish and Islamic cultures. Postgraduate theses are the primary sources of these studies. In particular, doctoral dissertations are important in terms of their contributions to the field. In this study, a total of 261 postgraduate theses, including 197 master’s theses and 64 doctoral theses found in the database of National Thesis Center of Council of Higher Education, were analyzed by bibliometric analysis method which is one of the quantitative analysis methods. The theses, prepared between 1984 and 2016, deal with socioeconomic and legal aspects of awqaf, as depicted by their authors. The aim of the study is to make it easier for academics and students, who are in search of topics for their thesis in the field of awqaf, to see which topics are concentrated in the literature and which ones are rare, so as to select a subject accordingly. It has been found that the theses on awqaf are mostly related to the social dimensions of awqaf of mostly Ottoman period. Findings from the study are expected to provide a road map for graduate students who will do research on waqfs