The rate of scientific contributions of Iranian researchers to the world increased from 17 percent in 2011 to 31 percent in 2020, becoming the world’s leading country in science diplomacy with 14 percent growth, according to scientific studies and analyses extracted from the Scopus International Citation Database.

Launched in 2004, Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings. Delivering a comprehensive overview of the world’s research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities, Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.

The development of international scientific partnerships and diplomacy is one of the main policies of Iran, which is also emphasized by the country’s higher education system, Mohammad Javad Dehghani, head of the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC), said.

“One of the most important indicators of scientific participation is the share of the latest joint international scientific findings in the total scientific publications of the country,” he noted.

In 2016, the share of articles with international participation in total science production of the country was 20 percent, which reached 22-24-27-31 over the past 4 years, respectively, he stated.

After Iran, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan each had the highest growth in science diplomacy with 6 percent,” he said, adding, among Islamic countries, Malaysia had the highest growth after Iran, which was 5 percent.

The share of articles with international participation has accelerated from the total number of articles produced in all subject areas. But comparing 2019 with 2018, the fields of humanities and basic sciences have had the highest growth rate, he explained.

Dehghani went on to note that in 2019, about 30 percent of the scientific publications in the field of basic sciences with the participation of international researchers held the highest share among other fields.

After that, the articles of two fields of technology, engineering, and agricultural sciences are in the next position with 29 percent publications, then comes social science and medical science, he concluded.

Iranian universities on world ranking lists

Most recently, the Islamic World Science Citation Database (ISC) published the results of the ISC World University Rankings 2019, according to which 35 Iranian universities were listed among the world’s top 2,000 in various subjects.

Also, forty-three Iranian universities were placed in the Islamic World University Rankings 2019 announced by the ISC.

With a scientific growth rate of 10.4 percent in 2019, Iran ranked second among the top 25 countries in the world, next to China with a growth rate of 12.9 percent, according to the Web of Science website.

In 2000, Iran’s share of scientific productivity was about 0.1 percent, which reached about 2 percent with a 20-fold increase in both Scopus and WoS citation databases.

According to statistics released by the International Web of Science Database, Iran’s citation rank has always been on the rise over the last eight years, from 24 in 2012 to 16 in 2019.

Iran ranks first in terms of the number of universities in the region and among Islamic countries, according to Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2020.

Two Iranian universities have been ranked among the top 100 universities in Asia, according to Webometrics Ranking of World Universities for July 2020.

Moreover, 7 Iranian universities have been listed among the best 1000 worldwide; including, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Sharif University of Technology, Tarbiat Modares University, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Isfahan University of Technology, Iran University of Science and Technology, came in 539th, 656th, 826th, 908th, 915th, 916th places, respectively, according to Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.

In June, THE Asia University Rankings 2020 ranked five Iranian universities among the top 100 universities worldwide.

The Center for Science and Technology Studies Leiden Ranking has placed 36 Iranian universities in the list of over 1,000 major universities worldwide in 2020 compared with 26 universities in 2019.

Also, five Iranian universities have been placed among the world’s top 1,000 universities announced by the prestigious Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2021. /T.T/

Advisor to Vice President for Science and Technology Affairs said that enemies of the country cannot stop scientific progress and development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Speaking in an interview with IRNA on Tue., Parviz Karami reiterated, “Our enemies themselves know that they cannot stop the path of scientific growth and development of the country, because, Iranian scientists have trained students who will continue their path in their absence.”

While commemorating the name and memory of Iran’s prominent nuclear and defense scientist martyr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Karami added, “Although lack of Iranian prominent scientists like martyrs Fakhrizadeh, Ahmadi Roshan, Tehrani Moghadam, Shahriari, etc., who were the symbol of resistance, science and technology, is a great loss for us and noble nation of Islamic Iran, enemies should know that not only scientific growth of the country will not stop, but also it will continue with more strength.”

Enemies have left no stone unturned to stop the scientific progress of the country but all their malicious objectives have been foiled relying upon the talented youth and scientists of the country, the advisor emphasized.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was targeted on Friday in a multi-pronged attack involving at least one explosion and small fire by a number of assailants in Absard city of Damavand County, Tehran province. MNA/

Foreign investment attracted in Aras Free Trade-Industrial Zone (AFZ) in Iran’s northwestern province of East Azarbaijan has risen 78 percent during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21), compared to the first half of the past year, according to a provincial official.

Safar Shasfand, the deputy head of Aras Free Zone Organization’s for investment and economic affairs, announced that the zone attracted $25 million of foreign investment in the six-month period of this year, while the figure was $14 million in the same time span of the past year.

The official said that domestic investment has also risen 81 percent to 21.892 trillion rials (about $521.2 million) in the zone during the first half of the present year, from 18.102 trillion rials (about $431 million) in the first half of the previous year.

Reiterating that Aras Free Zone has been successful in attracting investment, and has a better performance in this due compared to the other free zones of the country, Shasfand said that the result is obvious in job creation and promotion of exports from the zone.

He further announced that 16 projects with the investment making of 8.97 trillion rials (about $231.5 million) will be inaugurated in the zone in the eleventh month of Bahman (January 20-Februaray 18, 2021), creating direct jobs for 405 persons.

The official has previously announced that AFZ exported commodities valued at $240 million to 10 countries during the first six months of the current year.

He mentioned dried fruits and nuts, plastic products, steel ingots, and production lines machinery as the main exported products and Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Armenia, Czech Republic, and Uzbekistan as the export destinations during the mentioned period of time.

Aras Free Trade-Industrial Zone is located in the northwest of Iran at the border point with neighboring Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

The establishment of free trade zones in Iran dates back to the Iranian calendar year 1368 (March 1989- March 1990) following the fall in the country’s oil income in the preceding year which prompted the government to promote non-oil exports.

The first two free trade zones of Iran were established in the south of the country. The first one was Kish Free Trade Zone established in 1368 on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf and the second one was Qeshm Free Trade Zone established the year after on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Some five other free trade zones have been also established in the country since then, including Chabahar in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Arvand in southwestern Khuzestan Province, Anzali in northern Gilan Province, Aras in East-Azarbaijan Province and Maku in West-Azarbaijan Province, both in the northwest of the country.

Considering the important role that the free trade zones play in promoting the country’s export and employment, Iran is seriously pursuing the development of its existing zones and establishment of new zones as well.

More development measures in this field have been taking since the U.S. re-imposition of sanctions on the Iranian economy in November 2018, as Iran is reducing its dependence on the oil income while elevating its domestic production and non-oil exports.

Although the sanctions have disrupted Iran’s economic activities, they could not impede the development of Iranian free zones; in fact, the development of these zones has been even accelerated.

Many strides made for increasing activities in the free zones have played a significant part in boosting the country’s non-oil exports and brought prosperity in the other economic sectors. / T.T/

The value of Iran’s non-oil trade during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-November 20) reached $44.6 billion, according to Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Mehdi Mirashrafi.

In the mentioned eight months, Iran imported $23.1 billion worth of goods, while the exports stood at $21.5 billion, IRIB reported.

The total volume of traded goods was estimated at about 97.7 million tons, of which over 75 million tons were related to exports and about 21.8 million tons were imported goods.

According to Mirashrafi, the imports in the said period declined one percent and 18 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively.

The exports also experienced a fall of 14 percent and 19 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively.

Noting the downward trend of the country’s foreign trade is ending and the trade is getting back to normal, the official said: “As we announced in previous months, fortunately, the downward trend of our country’s exports is approaching normal conditions month by month, and we hope to have better conditions in terms of exports by the end of the year.”

Iran’s top five non-oil export destinations during this period were Iraq with over $5.3 billion worth of exports, China with the same amount, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $2.7 billion, and Turkey with $1.6 billion as well as Afghanistan with $1.5 billion.

According to the IRICA head, the top five sources of imports during this period were China with $6 billion, the UAE with $5.4 billion, Turkey with $2.6 billion, India with $1.4 billion, and Germany with $1.1 billion worth of imports.

Most of the imported goods into the country in the mentioned time span were basic goods or raw materials, Mirashrafi stressed.

Also in the said period, 4,471,000 tons of goods were transited through Iran to the neighboring countries, showing a decrease of 15 percent compared to the same period last year.

Like all other countries around the world, Iran’s trade with its foreign partners has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, however, the situation is getting back to normal and the country’s trade borders are opening one by one. /T.T/