Appendix E

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Search of Scopus Data Base for Iranian Publications (2014)

In 2014, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine designed a search of the Scopus data base to (a) ascertain the number of articles published in internationally endorsed ISI journals by Iranian authors in the natural sciences, engineering, and medicine during the period 2000 to 2012, and (b) identify the associated Iranian institutions. The many articles published by social scientists were not included in the survey. The results were as follows.

1. Total number of publications: 21,285 with Iran ranking 22 in the world in each year.
2. Leading fields of research (in order):
   • Medicine (12,550)
   • Agriculture and Biological Sciences (4,051)
   • Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology (2,445)
   • Environmental Science (2,217)
   • Earth and Planetary Science (1,778)
3. Leading Iranian universities where authors were based (in order):
   • Tehran University of Medical Sciences
   • Daneshgahe Azad Eslami
   • University of Tehran
   • Shahid Beheshti Medical University
   • Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
   • Daneshygahe Tarbbiat Modares University

• Isfahan University of Medical Sciences
• Shiraz University
• Shahid Beheshti University
• Iran University of Medical Sciences

Then the involvement of co-authors from both Iran and the United States in English language journals including but beyond ISI journals during 2000-2012 was investigated. The results were as follows.

1. Publications with Iranian authors and authors from other countries: 37,862
2. Publications with co-authors from Iran and United States: 7,898
3. Leading fields of research involving U.S. and Iran co-authors (in order)
   • Engineering
   • Medicine
   • Physics and Astronomy
   • Computer Science
   • Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology
4. U.S. universities where co-authors were located (in order)
   • University of Wisconsin, Madison
   • University of California, Davis
   • Texas A&M University
   • Ohio State University
   • University of Illinois, Chicago
5. Iranian universities where co-authors were located (in order)
   • University of Tehran
   • Sharif University of Technology
   • Tehran University of Medical Sciences
   • Amirkabir University of Medical Technology
   • Daneshgahe Azad Eslami

With regard to the upsurge in co-authored papers, a survey carried out in 2011-2012 by others of 320 non-Iranian co-authors who published joint papers with Iranian colleagues provided useful insights as to the basis for such collaboration.¹

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¹ Mojtaba Shamsipur, “The Role of Chemistry and Biology in the Future Development of Iran,” Science and Technology and the Future of Development of Societies, U.S. National Research Council, 2008.

• Studying abroad was the most important factor that led to joint publications involving Iranian co-authors in all areas of science.
• Collaboration had usually been under way for at least five years prior to the joint publications. In this regard, student-supervisor relations following graduation often led to further research collaboration.
• The most important reason for co-authorship was the search for new ideas. Iranian students and scholars were very active, creative, and well-educated; and cooperation of western scientists with colleagues who lived in Iran improved the quality of the papers.

Negative comments concerning cooperation in preparing papers were also included, such as the following. “The level of Iranian education is not sufficiently high to be able to always aim for very good journals.” “Iranians are weak in teamwork, and they need training in collaboration.” “Iranian researchers just want to publish, but they should try harder to publish in high quality journals even though it may take a bit more time.” “Iranians are not good enough in English.” “Iranians cannot adjust to deadlines.”

An earlier investigation by others focused on ISI publications during the period 1995-2005 revealed the following information concerning citations of Iranian papers in other publications. The fields considered were as follows: Chemistry (6,100 papers/24,176 citations), engineering (2,906/5,042), clinical medicine (1,986/7,565), physics (1,933/7,565), and plant and animal science (1,167/1,705). This study also revealed the principal co-authors were, in order, from the United States, Canada, England, Germany, and France. A related study in 2007 indicated that the citations per paper for Iranian papers were quite low by international standards.²

In summary, Iranian authors have made significant contributions to the international scientific literature. The importance of Iranian students studying abroad cannot be exaggerated when considering the potential for co-authorship in the future. Given the reduction of Iranian scientists (other than students) traveling to the United since 2010, it is likely that the rate of growth of joint publications has declined and may continue to decline in the near term.

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²Encyclopedia Iranica, www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v6f6/v6f6a086.html.

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