TEHRAN – The Islamic World University Rankings (IWUR) has included 84 Iranian universities among the top universities in Islamic countries, up from 80 in 2023, according to the latest report by the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC).

A total of 552 universities from 35 Islamic countries are listed in the ranking, where Turkey, with 138 universities and Iran, with 84 universities, and Pakistan, with 50 universities, are placed first to third, IRNA reported.

University of Tehran is placed among the top ten universities in Islamic nations, ranking sixth. The university ranks first in Iran.

Tehran University of Medical Sciences (11), Sharif University of Technology (17), Tarbiat Modares University (21), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (31), Amirkabir University of Technology (37), Isfahan University of Technology (40), Iran University of Medical Sciences (47), Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (50), Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (53), and University of Tabriz (54) are placed second to ten in the country.

Iran ranks second in SCImago 2024

According to the recent ranking published by SCImago 2024, Iran, with 75501 documents, ranks second among Islamic countries.

The country ranks 17 globally, dropping one position in the ranking compared to the past year. Turkey (with 82150 documents) and Saudi Arabia (with 72167 documents) rank first and third, respectively, Mehr news agency reported.

In 2022, the country published over 78,000 documents in Scopus, but in 2023, the number of documents declined, reaching 74,000. In 2024, the trend has increased but has not yet reached the figure published in 2022.

According to the report, in terms of citations (89,492), Iran ranks second and fifteenth in the region and the world, respectively. Over the past five years, the country’s global ranking has improved from 19 to 15.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey, with 121,838 and 81,106 citations, ranked first and third, respectively.

China (with 1215824 documents), the United States (with 743,884 documents), and India (with 351,928) are placed first to third in the SCImago ranking 2024.

Iran is planning to elevate the country’s ranking for scientific productions from currently 17 to 12 by 2027.

Due to sanctions, economic restrictions, and the limitations on publishing papers by Iranian scholars, particularly during the last three years, Iran’s ranking in scientific productions has lowered from 15 to 17, Shahin Akhoundzadeh, an official with the health ministry, has said.

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.

MT/MG