TEHRAN – Some 135 out of 938 Iranian researchers who have been recognized among the world's top one percent most-cited researchers in 2023 are female scholars.

In 2023, 938 top researchers affiliated with Iranian organizations have been identified, which shows a 12 percent increase compared to the previous year. Over the past decade, the number of highly-cited researchers in the country has been growing.

Women are an important part of society, playing an important role in the development of human societies, IRNA quoted Ahmad Fazelzadeh, the head of the Islamic World Science and Technology Monitoring and Citation (ISC) Institute, as saying.

One of the indicators of scientific authority is the number of highly cited scientists in each country, and Iranian women researchers have a special place in the field of scientific authority at the national and international level, Fazelzadeh added.

ISC’s main responsibilities are to introduce highly-cited researchers and to provide the possibility to identify and introduce elite researchers and scholars.

According to its missions, ISC is responsible for monitoring the status of science and technology in Iran, Islamic Countries, and the world.

One of the indicators of scientific authority is the number of highly cited researchers in each country.

 Among Iranian highly-cited researchers, women are also present and have played their part in the scientific authority of Iran.

Using the data indexed in the ISC database, ISC identifies highly cited Iranian researchers in Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Art, and Architecture.

In the latest announced list, highly cited researchers have been introduced in the period of 10 years (2011-2021). The criteria for selecting researchers in this list is the number of citations made to their scientific productions.

According to the recent report of ISC, in the list of one percent of researchers in the world which is based on the Essential Science Indicators  (ESI) database, a total of 135 Iranian female researchers have been recognized in the areas of Agricultural Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Neuroscience and Psychology, Engineering, Material Science, Psychiatry/Psychology, Computer Science, Interdisciplinary, Social Science, generalities and some have obtained the necessary points even in several fields.

Fazelzadeh went on to say that according to the Stanford University List which was conducted by a number of researchers from Stanford University and the Elsevier Institute via analyzing the data of the Scopus database, 60 highly cited Iranian female researchers are among the top two percent in the world (service performance) in eight subject areas including Clinical Medicine, Chemistry, Biomedicine, Strategic Technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology, etc.), Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Physics and Astronomy, Information and Communication Technology, and Engineering.

316 female Iranian highly-cited researchers are among the top two percent of the world (one-year performance) in 14 subject areas of Clinical Medicine, Biomedicine, Chemistry, Engineering, Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Strategic Technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology, etc.), Information and Communication Technology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, Environment, Design and Construction, Public Health and Health Services, Biology, Social Sciences, Communication and Textual Research have obtained the necessary points.

Some 46 female researchers in 13 subject areas of Business, Management and Accounting, Geographical Sciences, Psychology, Social Sciences, Knowledge and Information Science, Language and Linguistics, Educational Sciences, Economic Sciences, Sociology and Political Sciences, Language and Literature, Historical Sciences, Theology and Islamic Studies and other areas gained the needed points.

Iranian female scholars

While the West is trying to show a distorted image of Iranian women, the promotion of women's status in Iran and their presence in various scientific and academic fields is undeniable

Despite all the problems and challenges that women all over the world face, they do not give up their dreams and goals and strive to be useful in society. Like many women in the world, Iranian women have also proved their capabilities in various fields and succeeded both nationally and internationally.

Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979, Iranian women have shone in different political, social, cultural, scientific, educational, and artistic fields in both national and international arenas during the past 44 years.  

The scientific progress of Iranian women in the years after the Islamic Revolution has been very impressive.

Despite some difficulties, the Iranian female population has been provided with the opportunity to study at universities in various fields so that educated women are seen as one of the most important social assets of the country today.

In the pre-Revolution era, most of the female pupils were keen on studying art and medical sciences at universities, but nowadays, they study in all fields including engineering, mathematics, economy, and agriculture.

As of 2006, women accounted for over half of university students in Iran and 70% of science and engineering students. In 2012, according to UNESCO data, over 2 million out of 4 million students in tertiary education in Iran were females, thus marking the fifth largest female enrollment after China, India, the US, and Brazil. In engineering fields, Iranian female enrollment ranked first in the world and in science fields second, after the US.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in one of his speeches on December 16, 1992, said, “… No one should propagate that by preserving one's hijab, modesty, homemaking and raising children, one cannot acquire knowledge. Thank God, today we have so many female intellectuals and scientists in various fields of our society: hardworking, intelligent, and valuable university students; high-level graduates; outstanding and high-ranking physicians! Today, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, various fields of sciences are available for women…”

Iranian women have proven they can contribute greatly to the advancement of science, as 345 female researchers are on the Highly Cited Researchers list of the world.

In the previous edition of the Highly Cited Researchers revealed by Clarivate, 15 researchers were from Iranian institutions, but in the 2022 edition, 12 Iranian researchers have been included.

Global statistics show that 28 percent of researchers are women. It is worth mentioning that Iranian women are among those researchers, who presented much research at domestic and international levels.

The Iranian women have succeeded in playing key roles in managing startups and accelerators, facilitating groups and companies active in agriculture, industries, architecture, pharmaceutical, and economic sectors, they also shone in the entrepreneurship area.

Iranian women have been able to achieve countless successes in various fields. It is difficult to name all these women. There are also many successful Iranian women all over the world who are famous in many fields of science and technology. A number of these women have achieved the highest honors in certain fields.

MT/MG