Abstract

This study presents a scientometric analysis of the research productivity at the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, during two distinct periods: the civil war (1984–2009) and the post-war period (2010–2025). Drawing on data from the Scopus database, it examines the University’s publication trends over four decades. The University of Jaffna, situated in Sri Lanka’s war-affected northern region, faced significant challenges during the conflict. Despite these challenges, the University has shown remarkable growth in scholarly output, especially in the post-war era. For this research, the search query was conducted using the keyword "University of Jaffna" in the title field. The analysis reveals that Scopus indexed a total of 1,545 publications with 25,100 total citations from 1984 to 2025. During the war period, 187 publications were recorded with 5,275 citations. In the post-war period, this number increased significantly to 1,358 publications with 19,825 citations. The study employed tools such as Biblioshiny, VOSviewer, and MS Excel for data analysis. It assessed authorship patterns, annual publication trends, productive authors, citation metrics, keyword distribution, funding sources, and international collaboration. Notably, during the war period, only 12% of the total research output was produced, whereas around 88% occurred after the war. This clearly indicates the strong influence of peace, enhanced global partnerships, and technological advancements on academic productivity. This research highlights the resilience of the University of Jaffna and the broader implications of conflict on higher education in Sri Lanka. The findings offer valuable insights such as Policy direction, Funding priorities, Strategic planning, Collection development and Regional development for governments, academic institutions, librarians, and researchers, contributing to an understanding of regional scholarly growth and supporting future academic planning and development.