Science growth in Iran over the past 35 years

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to evaluate activities in different branches of science in Iran compared to other countries over the past 35 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Essential Science Indicators (ESI) and Web of Science from (Thomson Reuters ISI) and SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) were searched for scientometrics data. ESI indicated place of Iran among other countries in all 22 scientific categories based on the publication and citation rates. SJR parameters, such as publication rate, citable publications, citation rate, citations per publication and the H-index were used to record the rank of Iran among the world's countries. RESULTS: A progressive quantitative and qualitative growth of Iranian publications was evident. The field of chemistry in Iran was the most prolific in terms of the number of publications (16982) whereas economics and business was the least prolific (156). A growth in the quality of works of Iranian authors was evident by gaining higher H-index in the recent years. CONCLUSIONS: If this scientific growth of Iran continues, it would not be surprising to see Iran as one of the most powerful countries in the field of science in the World.