TEHRAN – With 464 journals indexed by the Scopus database from 2011 to 2026, Iran ranks first among regional countries.
Turkey, with 344 Scopus-indexed journals, is placed second, IRNA reported.
The number of Iranian journals has experienced a sustained upward trend, increasing from 95 journals in 2011 to 464 journals in 2026, the report added.
According to the Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology, known as Irandoc, the main challenges that highlight the necessity to review support polices include disparities in subject distribution, particularly the 17-percent share of human and social sciences, and the fact that out of the whole indexed journals around 70 percent is in the third and fourth quartile (Q3 and Q4), nine percent in the Q1, and 20 percent in Q2.
The strategic priority of the country’s research system in 2026 focuses on not just increasing the number of journals, but also improving the quality of works, which requires enhancing standards in evaluation processes, recruiting international reviewers and authors, and adhering to publication ethics to elevate Iran’s scientific standing on a global scale.
Iran ranks third among Islamic countries for scientific publications
According to the recent ranking published by SCImago (SIR) 2025, Iran, with 77,197 scientific articles, ranks third among Islamic nations.
The SIR is a classification of academic and research-related institutions ranked by a composite indicator that combines three sets of indicators: research performance, innovation outputs, and societal impact, measured by their web visibility.
The country ranked 18th globally. Compared to 75,990 works in 2024, the country has published 1,207 more articles in 2025, indicating a 1.6 percent increase; however, Iran’s ranking has dropped one spot compared to 2024.
Turkey (with 99,588 articles) and Saudi Arabia (with 79,919 articles) are placed first and second in the region, 13th and 16th in the world.
The country ranked 17th in the world and second in the region in 2024. Turkey and Saudi Arabia ranked first and third, respectively, back then.
A review of Scopus data from 2014 to 2022 shows that Iran has always been the first among the countries in the region in terms of the number of publications and has been able to maintain this position.
In 2017, Iran ranked 17th in this index and maintained this rank until 2019. In 2020, Iran’s rank increased by two places to 15, but in the last two years, this rank was lost, and in 2022 it returned to 17.
This is the third consecutive year that the country’s ranking for scientific publications has experienced a downward trend, falling from 15 in 2023, to 17 in 2024, and 18 in 2025.
According to the seventh national development plan (2023-2027), Iran plans to elevate the country’s ranking in scientific production to 12 by 2027, which seems difficult given the current situation.
Shahin Akhoundzadeh, an official with the health ministry, said that due to sanctions, economic restrictions, and limitations on Iranian scholars’ ability to publish papers, particularly over the last three years, Iran’s ranking in scientific production has declined from 15 in 2023 to 17 in 2024.
The country’s advancement in science production requires compensating for the regression in research and technology through providing funds, facilitating research, and promoting meritocracy, which will reduce young elites’ migration, as well, the health ministry’s website quoted Akhoundzadeh as saying.
In 2025, China, with 1,352,563 articles, ranks first in the world, experiencing a 9.6 percent increase. The US (with 749,969 articles) is placed second; the number of published articles has dropped by 0.5 percent compared to 2024, though.
India (with 381524 articles), England (with 260,524 works), and Germany (with 209,302 articles) ranked third to fifth.
The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) 2026 has ranked 166 Iranian universities among the top institutions in the world, up from 164 in 2025.
SCI Ranking analyzes institutions in five sectors, including government, health, universities, companies, and non-profit.
For the SIR Ranking 2026 edition, the Altmetrics indicator has been replaced by the new Media Mentions metric. This indicator quantifies institutional exposure across high-authority media outlets indexed in the SCImago Media Rankings (SMR).
A total of 61 universities in the SIR 2026 edition have been flagged for high rates of self-citation (over 25 percent) and self-referencing (over 15 percent). These factors can severely affect ranking positions and, as a result, these universities may be removed from the SIR in subsequent editions.
In the latest ranking, Tehran University of Medical Sciences and University of Tehran are placed among the top ten institutions in West Asia, ranking 5th and 10th, respectively.
MT/MG
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: tehrantimes.com
