A 35-step rise in I. R. of Iran's Rank in science production Over the past 45 years

The growth of Iran's science production in the years after the glorious Islamic revolution in the Web of Science database shows that in the first twenty years of the revolution, the amount of Iran's science production has been increasing, so that Iran's share in 1980 was 0.04% and reached 0.1% in 1999. Figure 1 shows the number of articles on the Islamic Republic of Iran in WoS website in the first twenty years of the Islamic Revolution.

Also, the study of science production by the researchers of the I. R. of Iran during the last 20 years also showed that the amount of science production is still increasing. Thus, in 2003, the country's share of science production in the world was around 0.27% and in 2022, it reached 1.93%. In this period, we have seen a growth of nearly 16 times in the science production of the country and an improvement of the position of 23 steps in the production of science. Chart 2 shows the number of articles of the Islamic Republic of Iran in WoS database during the last twenty years.

Chart1. The number of I.R. of Iran articles in WoS during the first 20 years of the Islamic Revolution

Chart 2. The number of I.R. of Iran articles in WoS during the last twenty years (2003-2022)

Table 1. I.R. of Iran science production rank in the world

The number of articles in Iran in different subject areas

In I.R. of Iran’s science production from 2003 to 2022, the subject areas of "Natural Sciences" and "Engineering and Technology" have had the largest share (37.74% and 30.61%). The fields of arts and humanities have the lowest share with 0.80%. Chart 3 shows the share of each subject areas.

Chart 3. The number of articles in Iran in different subject areas (2003-2022)

Multifold Increase in Science Production in Different Subject Areas in Post Islamic Revolution Years

Table 2 shows the number of science production in the first year of the victory of the Islamic Revolution (1980) as well as in 2003 and 2022 based on subject areas. As can be seen, the science production of the I.R. of Iran has increased in all subject areas.

Table 2. The amount of science production of the I.R. of Iran among the countries of the world based on the subject areas

The ratio of the increase of science production in different subject areas from the beginning of the Islamic Revolution until now can be seen in Table 3. The subject area of "Health and Medical Sciences" has had the highest growth in science production compared to other subject areas with an increase of 279 times, and the subject area of "Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences" has had the lowest growth among other subject areas with an increase of 84 times.

Table 3. The ratio of the increase of science productions in different subject areas since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution

In the last twenty years, the subject area of "Arts and Humanities" has grown the most with an increase of 68 times. Table 4 shows the increase of science productions in the subject areas during the last twenty years (2003-2022).

Table 4. The ratio of the increase of science productions in different subject areas during the last twenty years (2003-2022)

Table 5 shows the rank of science production of the I.R. of Iran among the countries of the world based on subject areas in 1980, 2003 and 2022. The best rank of Iran was in "Engineering and Technology" and "Agricultural and Veterinary Science” ranked 13 and 16 among the world countries.

Table 5. The rank of science production of the I.R. of Iran among the countries of the world based on subject areas

The number of citations of the Islamic Republic of Iran among the countries of the world based on subject areas in 1980, 2003 and 2022 can be seen in the Web of Science in Table 6. The subject areas of "Natural Sciences" and "Engineering and Technology" have the highest number of citations. Also, the H-Index of the I.R. of Iran is 465.

Table 6. The number of I.R. of Iran’s citations among the world countries based on subject areas

Table 7 shows the citation rank of the I.R. of Iran among the world countries based on different subject areas in 1980, 2003 and 2022. Iran has the best ranking in the subject area of "Engineering and Technology", "Art and Human Sciences" with rank 12 and "Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences" with rank 13 among the countries of the world.

Table 7. The citation rank of the I.R. of Iran among the countries of the world based on different subject areas