Over 1,140 Iranians Join Elite Ranks of World's Top 1% Most-Cited Researchers

Over 1,140 Iranians Join Elite Ranks of World’s Top 1% Most-Cited Researchers

In 2025, a remarkable achievement has been recorded for Iran’s academic community, with 1,142 Iranian researchers recognized among the world’s top one percent of the most-cited researchers. This marks an increase from 1,056 researchers identified in 2024, as reported by the Islamic World Science Citation (ISC) Institute. This achievement highlights the growing impact of Iranian researchers on the global stage, particularly in various scientific fields.

The data reveals that the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education leads with 603 entries, representing 52.77 percent of the most-cited Iranian researchers, followed by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology with 427 researchers, which accounts for 37.43 percent of the total. The fields with the highest numbers of most-cited researchers include:

  • Clinical Medicine: 446 entries
  • Engineering: 219 entries
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology: 163 entries
  • Chemistry: 140 entries
  • Neuroscience and Behavior: 115 entries
  • Agricultural Sciences: 100 entries
  • Social Sciences: 77 entries

Notably, three Iranian researchers have received recognition as highly cited award recipients, underscoring their significant contributions to their respective fields. The Essential Science Indicators (ESI) data, which spans a decade and is updated bi-monthly, provides a comprehensive overview of researchers’ impact based on citations.

According to Clarivate, research impact metrics are regularly published through the ESI, pinpointing top-performing research indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection. Each journal in this collection is categorized into one of 22 research fields. The rankings of authors are determined by the citations they have garnered over a ten-year period within each field. Authors who rank in the top one percent by citations are recognized as elite scholars.

Moreover, it’s worth mentioning that Stanford University, in collaboration with Elsevier, has identified 2,772 Iranian researchers among the top two percent of the most-cited scientists based on their career-long impact. This data is based on the August 2025 snapshot from Scopus and includes updates to citation metrics through the end of 2024.

Researchers are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields, utilizing the standardized Science-Metrix classification. Percentiles specific to fields and subfields are available for all scientists with a minimum of five publications. Updates to the career-long data reflect citations received through the end of 2024, while the single-year data focuses on citations accrued in the 2024 calendar year.

The selection criteria involve identifying the top 100,000 scientists based on their c-score, which incorporates both self-citations and external citations, or a percentile rank of two percent or above in the respective sub-field. This comprehensive assessment captures the cumulative research influence of a scientist throughout their career, concluding at the end of the previous calendar year (2024).

The c-score calculation includes various bibliometric criteria, such as:

  • Total number of citations (NC)
  • H-index (H)
  • Co-authorship-adjusted hm-index
  • Citations to single-author papers (NCS)
  • Citations to single or first-author papers (NCSF)
  • Citations to single, first, or last-author papers (NCFSL)

The latest international data indicates that the presence of Iranian researchers in the top two percent list continues to rise, showcasing an improvement in the quality of scientific production in the country. According to Peyman Salehi, deputy science minister, the reputable “updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators” reported on September 19, reflecting an unprecedented growth in both one-year performance and career-long indicators.

The statistics reveal that the number of highly cited Iranian researchers has increased significantly from 2,326 in the Iranian year 1403 (2024-2025) to 2,533 in 1404 (2025-2026). This growth of 207 researchers compared to the prior year clearly illustrates the enhancement in the quality and impact of Iran’s scientific output in 2024.

In terms of fields, the medical sector boasts the highest number of highly cited researchers in one-year performance, totaling 853 researchers, whereas engineering leads in career-long performance with 287 researchers. Additionally, the career-long index of highly cited Iranian researchers has risen from 1,018 in 1403 to 1,021 in 1404, marking a significant increase from 433 in 1399 over the span of five years.

The single-year index emphasizes the citations received by articles published within a specific year, reflecting the ongoing evolution and influence of Iranian research on the global academic landscape.

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