TEHRAN – The Islamic World Science Citation (ISC) Institute database has recognized 489 most-cited Iranian researchers in human sciences, social sciences, art, and architecture, which shows a fifteen percent increase compared to the previous year.

The most-cited researchers have been identified in a ten-year period from Iranian calendar year 1392 (2013-2014) to 1401 (2022-2023), IRNA quoted Ahmad Fazelzadeh, the head of ISC Institute, as saying. 
Researchers in each field are listed based on their citation counts, that is how many citations their papers have received over the selected time period.

Most-cited researchers have been categorized into 16 subject areas in the field of humanities, social sciences, art, and architecture, of which 413 researchers are in one subject area, and the rest of the researchers are in several subject areas. 

Researchers in the subject areas of ‘business, management, and accounting’ (12.68 percent), ‘Social sciences’ (12.27 percent), and ‘other’ (9.41 percent) are ranked first to third.

The rest of the researchers are in 13 subject areas including educational sciences, psychology, theology and Islamic studies, sociology and political sciences, geographical sciences, economic sciences, language and linguistics, law, language and literature, historical sciences, philosophy, art and architecture, knowledge and information science.

Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology represents 89.35 percent, Islamic Azad University represents 6.05 percent, Ministry of Health represents 1.94 percent, and other educational, research, and technological institutions represent 2.66 percent of most-cited researchers.

University of Tehran, Tarbiat Modarres University, Allameh Tabatabai University, Isfahan University, and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad with 55, 35, 34, 23, and 21 researchers have the highest number of most-cited researchers, respectively.

Over 1,000 Iranians among world’s 1% most-cited researchers

A total of 1056 Iranian researchers have been recognized among the world’s top one percent most-cited researchers in 2024, indicating a 12 percent increase compared to 938 identified researchers in 2023.

“The Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (with 427 researchers) represents 40.44 percent, and the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education (with 518 researchers) accounts for 49.05 percent of the most-cited Iranian researchers,” IRNA quoted Fazelzadeh as saying.

Clinical medicine with 22.54 percent, Multidisciplinary with 21.78 percent, Engineering with 17.05 percent, Pharmacology and Toxicology with 9.66 percent, Chemistry with 8.43 percent, and Agricultural sciences with 7.01 percent held the highest shares of the most-cited researchers, respectively.

Over 2,500 Iranians among world’s top 2% most-cited researchers

Stanford University, using Scopus data provided by Elsevier, listed 2,503 Iranian researchers among the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists in the world, a significant growth compared to 1,870 researchers in 2023.

The selection is based on the top 100,000 scientists by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2 percent or above in the sub-field. This version (7) is based on the August 1, 2024, snapshot from Scopus, updated to the end of the citation year 2023.
The inclusion in the ‘Top 2%’ list is determined by several key metrics. C-score which is the composite score based on various bibliometric factors, including the total number of citations, h-index, and the number of citations with and without self-citations.

Field and Sub-field Percentiles:  scientists are classified into 22 broad fields and 176 sub-fields. Only those who rank in the top 2% of their sub-field are included.

Career-Long vs. Single-Year Impact: the ranking is available for both career-long impact and single-year performance, offering insights into both long-term contributions and recent achievements.

Iran ranks 14th for most-cited institutes

The number of top Iranian universities and research institutes in the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) database has increased from 115 last year to 134 this year, ranking the country 14th worldwide, and second among Islamic countries, the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC) has reported.

Essential Science Indicators, or ESI, is a fundamental analysis and evaluation tool that reveals emerging science trends, as well as the performance of influential individuals, academic institutions, papers, journals, countries, and regions in various fields of scientific research.

A total of 9,019 universities and research institutes in all subject areas are ranked by the ESI database in a ten-year period, from 2014 to 2024.

Iran’s top universities and research institutes are present in 19 subject areas, and the largest number is in the clinical medicine subject area with 74 universities and research institutes.

The number of institutions in the subject areas of engineering was 67, chemistry 57, agricultural sciences 29, materials sciences 28, pharmacology and toxicology 27, social sciences, general sciences 21.

Also, the number of institutions in the fields of plant and animal sciences, and environment/ecology 20 each, neuroscience and behavior 18, biology and biochemistry 17, computer science 15, immunology 10, geology 8, molecular biology and genetics and physics 5 each, microbiology and psychiatry and psychology 3 each and mathematics one.

The ranking includes 35 Islamic countries. Turkey ranks first among Islamic nations, followed by Iran in second place.

Also, Turkey with 149 universities and research institutes ranks 12th in the world.

Egypt (with 48 universities and research institutes) ranks 25th, Pakistan (with 46 universities) ranks 27th, and Saudi Arabia (with 45 universities) ranks 38th, respectively.

MT/MG