TEHRAN – Iran (17,458 documents) ranked first among Islamic countries in the field of neural network technology and multi-agent systems (351 documents), according to a report published by the Web of Science database.
The report includes data spanning 20 years from 2004 to 2023.
The country is ranked 6th in the world in neural network technology and 12th in multi-agent systems.
Turkey ranks second in terms of the number of documents related to neural network technology with 9,078, followed by Saudi Arabia in third place with 7,971.
In the multi-agent system, Tunis with 233 documents and Morocco with 231 documents rank second and third.
Iran ranks second among Islamic countries in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and robotics.
The country is ranked 16th globally in AI technologies, 25th in visual computing and natural language processing, 17th in machine learning, and 27th in robotics.
Iran's scientific achievements in neural networks, machine learning and AI technologies have been on the rise over the past decade compared to other AI-related technologies.
According to the results, in the field of neural networks, the trend of scientific achievements is increasing from 950 in 2014 to 2,207 in 2023.
In machine learning, scientific output increased from 81 documents in 2014 to 1,656 documents in 2023.
Additionally, in the field of artificial intelligence, scientific achievements are expected to increase from 98 in 2014 to 647 in 2023.
Over the past two decades, the majority of scientific achievements in the field of artificial intelligence are associated with the University of Tehran, University of Tabriz and Amir Kabir University of Technology, while in the fields of visual computing and natural language processing, the University of Tehran, Amir Kabir University of Technology and Sharif University of Technology rank first, second and third, respectively.
The majority of scientific achievements in machine learning are associated with the University of Tehran, Amir Kabir University of Technology and Tarbiat Modares University, and in robotics with the University of Tehran, Sharif University of Technology and Amir Kabir University of Technology.
In the field of neural networks, researchers from the University of Tehran, University of Tabriz, and Iran University of Science and Technology, and in the field of multi-agent systems, researchers from Amir Kabir University of Technology, Iran University of Science and Technology, and University of Tehran account for a large proportion of scientific achievements.
Recent Rankings
Times Higher Education (THE) included 33 universities from Iran among the top 1,500 universities pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), compared with 27 in 2023.
THE assessed 2,152 universities across 125 countries to produce its overall 2024 Impact Rankings.
According to Mehr News Agency, a total of 29 Iranian universities were included in the overall ranking, including Al-Zahra University, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences (401st to 600th), Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mohaghe Ardabili University, University of Tehran (601st to 800th), Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Sharif University of Technology, Kurdistan University, and Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (801st to 1000th).
These leading universities are recognised for their comprehensive impact across multiple dimensions of sustainable development and are making a significant contribution towards creating a sustainable and resilient future.
Their wide-ranging excellence underscores the importance of holistic approaches to global challenges and highlights the vital role of academia in driving sustainable change.
The Total Impact Ranking methodology combines scores across multiple SDGs to reflect overall performance and impact.
SDG indicators include no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, safe water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent jobs and economic growth, industrial innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequality, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace and justice, strong institutions, and partnerships for achieving the goals.
Amirkabir University of Technology and Sharif University of Technology achieved the highest ranking of 27th place in the Industrial Innovation and Infrastructure category.
Australia's University of Western Sydney topped the list for the third consecutive year, with the University of Manchester in the UK and the University of Tasmania in Australia tied for second place.
In the 21st QS World University Rankings (2025 edition), nine Iranian universities were ranked among the world's top universities, but in 2024, this number dropped to seven.
This year's rankings included more than 1,500 institutions across 105 higher education systems.
Sharif University of Technology (342nd), University of Tehran (368th), Amirkabir University of Technology (403rd), Iran University of Science and Technology (436th), and Isfahan University of Technology (489th) ranked first to fifth, respectively.
Other top Iranian universities included in the ranking include Tabriz University (552nd), Shiraz University (691-700th), Shahid Beheshti University (851-900th), and Mashhad Ferdowsi University (951-1000th).
A total of 270 universities from 29 Islamic countries were included in the ranking.
Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey ranked first, second and third in terms of number of universities. Iran was ranked 11th among Islamic countries in this year's QS rankings.
In the SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) 2024, 197 Iranian universities were ranked among the top institutions in the world, compared to 194 universities in 2023.
SIR is a classification of academic and research-related institutions ranked by a composite index that combines three different sets of indicators based on research performance, innovation output and societal impact, measured by web visibility.
In the latest rankings, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (5th) and University of Tehran (10th) were ranked among the top 10 universities in West Asia. In the 2023 rankings, they ranked 6th and 11th, respectively.
The research rankings of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and University of Tehran were 175th and 290th in the world, respectively.
Tehran University of Medical Sciences' ranking will rise from 486th in 2023 to 452nd in 2024, making it the top university in Iran.
Tehran University of Medical Sciences has achieved the first place in Western Asia for Medicine, the second place in Dentistry, the fifth place in Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacy, and is ranked 34th worldwide for Dentistry.
The University of Tehran was ranked 2nd in the country and 827th in the world.
The University of Tehran was ranked first in Business, Management and Accounting (38th in the world), third in Economics, Econometrics and Finance, and fourth in Western Asia Engineering.
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and Tabriz University of Medical Sciences ranked third to fifth in the country, respectively.
The ranking of these institutions in West Asia is as follows:
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences was ranked third in medicine and sixth in dentistry.
Mashhad University of Medical Sciences was ranked 4th in the fields of pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy.
Tabriz University of Medical Sciences was ranked second (47th in the world) in Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacy, and fifth in Energy.
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