TEHRAN - The latest international data shows that the presence of Iranian researchers in the top two percent list of the world based on citation indicators continues to trend upward, indicating an improvement in the quality of the country's scientific production.

The reputable “updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators”, which provides updated versions of scientist rankings based on standardized indicators, reported on September 19 that Iran has experienced an unprecedented growth in both one-year performance and scientific career-long indicators, IRNA quoted Peyman Salehi, deputy science minister, as saying.

Based on the report, the number of highly cited Iranian researchers in the one-year performance index has increased from 2,326 in the Iranian year 1403 (2024-2025) to 2,533 in 1404 (2025-2026). 

This figure represents an increase of 207 persons compared to the previous year and clearly demonstrates the improvement in the quality and impact of the country's scientific production in 2024, he explained.

Also, the number of highly cited Iranian researchers in the career-long index has grown significantly from 1,018 in 1403 to 1,021 in 1404. A five-year trend analysis shows that Iran has achieved this remarkable achievement from 433 in 1399, and has experienced nearly threefold growth in this time period, Salehi added.

“The career-long index refers to a researcher's scientific performance over their entire career and includes the total number of citations received by the researcher's articles through the end of 2024. This index evaluates metrics such as the number of citations, h-index, and the researcher's contribution to collaborative articles.”

The single-year index focuses on the citations received by articles in a specific year. In the recent report, citations received in 2024 were the basis for the ranking, which indicates the current scientific impact and the ability of the researcher to produce new knowledge, he concluded.

The 2024 edition of the Nature Index Research Leaders report has placed Iran 32nd among Research Leaders globally. The report is based on Nature Index data from January 1 to December 31, 2023.

Institute for Fundamental Sciences (IPM), University of Tehran, and Sharif University of Technology are ranked first to third in the country.

The country is ranked second in Physical Sciences, third in Chemistry, as well as Health Sciences, fourth in Earth and Environmental Sciences, and fifth in Biological Sciences in the region.

Iran’s best global ranking is in Physical Sciences with the rank of 27.

The Nature Index is an open database of author affiliations and institutional relationships. The Index tracks contributions to research articles published in high-quality natural science and health science journals, chosen based on reputation by an independent group of researchers.

The Nature Index provides absolute Count and fractional share counts of article publications at the institutional and national levels and, as such, is an indicator of global high-quality research output and collaboration.

Data in the Nature Index are updated regularly, with the most recent 12 months. The database is compiled by Nature Research Intelligence, part of Springer Nature.