TEHRAN – Iran has ranked first in West Asia for development in complementary and alternative medicine in 2021, the SCImago Journal - Country Rank reported.With 505 documents published in the field of complementary and alternative medicine, the country was placed fourth next to China (4998), the United States (1168), and India (710) in the world.In 2020, Iran placed fourth in the world ranking, while in 2019 and 2018 the country ranked fifth, according to the report.The SCImago Journal - Country Rank includes the journals and country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Scopus database (Elsevier B.V.).

These indicators can be used to assess and analyze scientific domains.

Citation data is drawn from over 34,100 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers and country performance metrics from 239 countries worldwide.Studies show that Iran enters the year 2022 with the rank of 15 in science production worldwide and it is expected to make progress over the next years.A country’s scientific products are a collection of research, articles, citations, international collaborations, activities of researchers, and educational and research institutions of a country.In reviewing scientific products, various indicators such as publication of articles in prestigious international journals, citations, validity of journals, the level of productivity, and scientific impact of scientists are considered quantitatively and qualitatively.With 505 documents published in this field, Iran was placed fourth next to China (4998), the United States (1168), and India (710) in the world.According to the latest information on science production, Iran is ranked 15th in the world in the international system of Web of Science in 2021, with an h-index of 383, which indicates the quality of Iranian articles registered.Iran’s scientific position in the Web of Science over the last 5 years shows that the production of conference papers has been on a downward trend during 2020 and 2021 due to the outbreak.The share of Iranian science production from conference papers has dropped from 7.38 percent in 2017 to 1.26 percent in 2021.Scientific studies and analyses extracted from the Scopus International Citation Database showed that the rate of scientific contributions of Iranian researchers to the world increased from 22.24 percent in 2017 to 35.6 percent in 2021.Three groups of engineering, chemistry, and materials science have been the most important research areas in the country over the last 5 years.In the SCOPUS international regulations, the most important research areas of Iran in the production of science in 2021 have been medicine, engineering, and materials science, respectively.Iran's scientific partner countries were the United States, China, and Canada in 2021, the United States, Canada, and China in 2020, and the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in 2017, 2018, and 2019.Web of Science shows that the coronavirus pandemic has negatively affected the percentage of conference papers.

The share of Iranian science production from conference papers in the Scopus database in 2021 was estimated at 1.80 percent, which was 6.50 percent in 2017 and 5.85 percent in 2018.MG