TEHRAN – Iran ranked 16th in the world in terms of scientific publications and research articles during the period between January 1, 2012 and August 11, 2012, according to Dr. Jafar Mehrad, the president of the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC).  

 

Prof. Mehrad made the announcement during an interview with the Persian service of ISNA published on Tuesday, citing the rankings published by the Scopus citation database. 

 

According to him, Iran produced 19,559 scientific publications during the mentioned period, which is unprecedented in the country’s history. 

 

The ISC president attributed the achievement to a purposeful investment in higher education and the introduction of new higher education courses and new scientific disciplines. 

 

Mehrad went on to say that Iran ranked 17th in terms of scientific publications in 2011, according to the rankings published by the Scopus citation database. 

 

He added that Iran ranked three places ahead of Turkey in the Scopus 2012 rankings. 

 

The top five countries in the rankings are listed below: 

 

- The United States (282,665 articles) 

- China (197,537 articles) 

- Britain (81,853 articles)

- Germany (75,635 articles)

- Japan (60,446 articles) 

 

EP/PA