TEHRAN – The 2025 Leiden University ranking system has included 48 Iranian universities among the top 1,594 universities worldwide, up from 46 in 2024, ranking the country first among Islamic nations in terms of the number of universities for the second consecutive year.

A total of 184 universities from Islamic countries are included in this year’s ranking. Turkey, with 45 universities, Saudi Arabia, with 20, Pakistan, with 16, and Egypt, with 15, are placed second and fifth, respectively, IRNA reported.

The University of Tehran (ranked 166 globally), Tehran University of Medical Sciences (ranked 235), and Iran University of Science and Technology (ranked 361) rank first to third in the country.

Tarbiat Modares University (372), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (383), Amirkabir University of Technology (408), University of Tabriz (508), Sharif University of Technology (510), Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (512), and Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (525) are placed fourth to tenth, respectively.

The Leiden Ranking provides indicators of scientific impact, collaboration, open access publishing, and gender diversity. Size matters when comparing universities: performance can be viewed from an absolute or a relative perspective (e.g., the number versus the percentage of highly cited publications). That is why size-dependent and size-independent indicators are consistently presented together in the Leiden Ranking. This highlights that both types of indicators need to be taken into account. The ranking uses publications over a four-year period  (2020–2023 for the 2025 release).

Compared with other university rankings, the Leiden Ranking offers more advanced bibliometric indicators. The underlying methodology is richly documented. The Leiden Ranking provides information exclusively about the research done at universities. Research is represented in publications, and carefully collected data about these publications form the basis for the Leiden Ranking. This basis also ensures the independence of the Leiden Ranking, since there is no reliance on data submitted by the universities themselves. Finally, because universities are complex institutions that have a variety of forms, contexts, and missions, their performance cannot be represented by a single number.

Recent rankings

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026 has placed 101 Iranian universities among the top institutions, up from 85 universities in 2025.

The 2026 rankings include 2,191 ranked universities from 115 countries and territories. There are 99 new entries compared with last year.

The THE World University Rankings are the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.

Amirkabir University of Technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, and Sharif University of Technology are among the top Iranian universities, with a global ranking of 351-400.

Iran University of Science and Technology and University of Tehran were jointly placed second, ranking 401-500 globally. Shiraz University of Technology and Tehran University of Medical Sciences ranked third collectively, with a global ranking of 501-600.

Twelve other universities are ranked 601-800 worldwide, including Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Golesran University, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan University of Technology, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, University of Tabriz, and Urmia University of Medical Sciences.

The 2024 World University Rankings (WUR) report by the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC) has included 72 Iranian universities, up from 69 in 2023. A total of 426 universities from 31 Islamic countries are listed in the ranking, where Turkey, with 102 universities and Iran, with 72 universities, and Pakistan, with 39 universities, are placed first to third, IRNA reported.

Among the top universities of Islamic countries, Saudi Arabia ranks 172. Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Egypt jointly rank 401–450, Qatar ranks 451–500, and Turkey, the UAE, and Lebanon rank 501–600.

Tehran University’s ranking has changed from 501-600 in 2023 to 401-500 in 2024. The University is placed first in the country. Tehran University of Medical Sciences ranks second. The university’s global ranking is 501-600, up from 601-700 in 2023.

Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences’ ranking has also improved from 801-900 in 2023 to 601-700 in 2024, ranking third in the country. Sharif University of Technology and Tarbiat Modares University are placed fourth and Fifth, respectively.

Shanghai University ranking 2025 has placed six Iranian universities among the top 1,000 institutions worldwide, down from 9 in 2024. Tehran University of Medical Sciences and University of Tehran are among the top 500 universities in the world, ranking 401–500 globally. Tarbiat Modares University ranks 701–800.

Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Sharif University of Technology rank 801-900. Iran University of Medical Sciences ranks 901–1000. The July edition of the Webometrics world ranking has included 64 medical universities from Iran, unchanged from January’s edition, 11 of which have advanced in the ranking compared to the January edition.

Tehran University of Medical Sciences (485) is the only university ranked among the top 500 institutions in the world, Mehr news agency reported. Among Iranian universities, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, and Yazd University of Medical Sciences have improved their rankings by 1002, 961, and 948 positions, respectively.

Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Kordestan University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, and Maraghe University of Medical Sciences are the other universities that have noticeably improved their rankings.

MT/MG