Major Research Indicators and their Trends in Iran Compared to the World Print

Research is a major element for development of countries. Nowadays، budgets and financial allocations are directed by research and development (R&D) issues. Investment in research and development units is considered as a competitive advantage. Scientific gap between developed and developing countries is measured based on the contribution of research and development activities in various economic، social and political issues. As there is no limitation for development، many developing countries try to follow developed countries and employ some indicators and instruments to measure the goals. The purpose of this study was to assess some important indicators of research and their trends through websites of the World Bank، UNESCO Institute for Statistics and other sources websites. In this study، using the latest available data in time series charts of the websites of the World Bank، UNESCO Institute for Statistics and a number of internal resources، the main indicators of research and development، including the research and development gross domestic product share of credits index، human resources index، and the number of published articles were considered. Moreover، contribution of various sectors in research and development funding was assessed. Iran is in the first place among the Middle Eastern countries، regarding the share of research and development funds from GDP. The index has been increased from 0. 34 in 1970 to 0. 8 in 2008. The number of researchers per million individuals has been increased more than twice from 2001 (335 researchers per million) to 2008 (747 researchers per million). The growth of scientific articles published in Iran has been increased six times from 2001 to 2009. In 2009، the country produced 6313 articles and has been ranked in the 21st place in the world. Overall، 61. 6% of the research and development costs are funded by public sector. The majority of the research and development indices have remarkable progress after the Islamic Revolution; however، the bulk of research budgets are funded by public sector. Moreover، policies and decisions are not made based on research results.