TEHRAN - According to data released by Scopus, Iran published 78,225 scientific articles in this database in 2022. Accordingly, Iran is ranked 15th in the world in terms of publication of scientific works for the fourth consecutive year.

Scopus data in 2022 shows that Iran ranks first among countries in the region in terms of the number of scientific publications.

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 total, 3,950,305 works have been indexed in the Scopus. China, with 1,016,311 works, is the source of about 25 percent of the world's scientific publications and has the first place in this regard.

The United States, India, England, and Germany are also in the second to fifth place.

According to the data of the Scopus index, the Tehran University of Medical Sciences has the largest share in Iran's scientific publications by publishing more than 6,800 works.

In total, nearly half of Iran's scientific publications in 2022 have been published by 10 universities in the country.

Meanwhile, the latest data from the Web of Science in 2022 shows that Iran ranks second among countries in the region after Turkey.

Since 2017, Iran ranked first in the region in terms of the number of publications in the WOS index, but in 2022, after 5 years, it has lost the first place in the region.

Reviewing the changes in Iran's ranking in the last six years in the Web of Science index shows that 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 first time that Iran's scientific ranking in terms of the number of publications in the Web of Science has decreased for two consecutive years.

International citation indexes include Web of Science, Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports, Web of Knowledge, and Scopus.

According to the latest statistics of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, 1,452 scientific journals are being published in the country.

Out of all the mentioned journals, 289 are indexed in the Scopus database and 67 journals are indexed in the Web of Science database, IRNA reported.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, has said that the West exerted pressures on Iran in order to isolate it but their efforts in this regard backfired.

He described making progress under economic siege and the most severe pressures possible as indicative of the Iranian nation’s bright performance.

“The U.S. said the economic pressures they've put on Iran are unprecedented in history. Despite all their lies, they were true to this,” the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks during a speech on March 21 at the holy shrine of Imam Reza on the occasion of the New Iranian year.

He named the Persian New Year the year of "Inflation Control, and Growth in Production."

The Leader highlighted the progress made in science and technology and Iran's ranking among the top countries of the world in fields such as Nano and Biotechnology, health, aerospace, nuclear, defense, infrastructure, medical centers, and oil refineries “With regard to foreign relations, the West’s efforts to isolate Iran have failed,” he said.

Since the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August 2021, more than 45 scientific and research journals have been indexed by Scopus, the deputy health minister Younes Panahi has said.

The growth in Scopus-indexed publications has been unprecedented, he said, adding that before the administration took office, 135 publications had been indexed by Scopus, while the figure is currently 180.

In 2021, a number of 27,800 articles have been registered by medical science researchers of the country in the Scopus database, he added.

Over the past year, 18 articles published by Iranian researchers have been cited by Scopus International Citation Database, compared with a total of 101 during the past 40 years, the deputy science minister Peyman Salehi said in September 2022.

The share of Iranian articles with international participation has had significant growth of 209 percent during an eight-year period (2013-2020), becoming the Islamic world’s leading country in science diplomacy, according to the Scopus International Citation Database.