ISC World Universities Ranking

ISC WUR by subject 2022 released

44 universities from Iran are present in this ranking

Office of International Scientific Cooperation, Jun. 28^th, 2023

Islamic World Science and Technology Monitoring and Citation Institute (ISC) has released its World University Ranking by subject 2022 since its first release in 2019. In ISC WUR by subject, the hierarchical division scheme of The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is used.

The number of universities present in ISC WUR by subject in different years
2019	2020	2021	2022	Years
35	39	42	44	Iran
177	196	215	224	OIC member Countries
1956	1990	2050	2038	The World Countries

In this scheme, all subject areas are observed in 6 main categories and 42 subcategories. The six main categories in this scheme include: Natural Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Medical and Health Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities.

Islamic countries in ISC WUR 2022 by Subject

Due to the importance of the position of science and technology in all subject areas, the ten-year science and technology document of OIC member countries (2016-2026) was approved by the ministers of these countries in 2017. Based on a 10-year science, technology and innovation documents of OIC member countries (valid until 2026), the presence of at least 50 universities of Islamic countries among the top 500 universities of the world has been targeted.

It is mentioned in this document that "university education in member countries should go beyond the basic issues such as paying attention to increasing the student entrance to the universities, governing more faculty members and increasing publications." In fact, it is necessary to focus on producing an up-to-date knowledge, providing quality education, expanding international communication, and increasing social impact.

The ten-year science and technology document of the OIC member countries provides a mechanism that aims to create collective capability and capacity for the development of a wide range of issues, including water, food, agriculture, energy, basic and applied sciences, as well as strengthening international communication and interactions with the world's leading scientific institutions.

Among the subjects mentioned in this document are Mathematics and Physics, Biology, Biotechnology, Chemical Sciences and Other Related Subjects which have countless benefits for the entire society.

It has been recommended that these sciences should be promoted at the level of Islamic countries, and for this purpose, investment should be made in these areas in addition to education and research.

In Natural Sciences, there were 43 universities from Islamic countries, the largest number of which were Iran with 11 universities and Egypt with 7 universities. The best rank obtained in this field belonged to Saudi Arabia (145).

In Engineering and Technology, there were 57 universities from Islamic countries, the largest number owned by Iran with 16 universities, while Malaysia ranked next with 11 universities. The best rank obtained in this field belonged to Saudi Arabia (85).

In Medical and Health Sciences, there were 54 universities from Islamic countries, the largest number of which is Türkiye with 16 universities. After Türkiye, Iran with 12 universities and Egypt with 8 universities have had the largest number of universities in this subject area. In addition, the best rank obtained in this field gained by Iran (219).

In Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, there were 85 universities from Islamic countries, the largest number of which were Türkiye and Iran with 18 and 17 universities. The best rank obtained by Saudi Arabia (38).

In Social Sciences, there were 22 universities from Islamic countries, the largest number of which were from Malaysia with 7 universities. Subsequently, the countries of Indonesia with 5 universities and Türkiye with 3 universities had the largest number of universities in this subject area. In addition, the best rank obtained by Saudi Arabia (238).

In Humanities and Arts, there were 10 universities from Islamic countries, the largest number of which were by Malaysia and Türkiye with 4 universities each. Iran and Lebanon were also present with 1 university each in this subject area. The best rank obtained in this area belonged to Malaysia (251-300).

The number of Islamic countries’ universities in ISC WUR by Subject 2022 Based on subject areas
Country	Natural Sciences	Engineering & Technology	Medical and health sciences	Agricultural and veterinary sciences	social Sciences	Humanities and arts
Iran	11	16	12	17	1	1
Malaysia	5	11	4	5	7	4
Pakistan	5	3	2	12	1	-
Arabia	5	5	4	2	2	-
Türkiye	4	4	16	18	3	4
Egypt	7	6	8	12	-	-
Tunisia	3	4	1	3	-	-
Indonesia	1	3	1	9	6	-
Morocco	1	1	-	-	-	-
Qatar	1	1	1	-	1	-
Algeria	-	-	-	-	-	-
United Arab Emirates	-	1	-	-	-	-
Kazakhstan	-	1	-	-	-	-
Bangladesh	-	-	-	1	-	-
Lebanon	-	-	1	-	-	1
Nigeria	-	-	1	2	1	-
Uganda	-	-	1	1	-	-
Iraq	-	1	-	1	-	-
Jordan	-	-	2	-	-	-
Oman	-	-	-	1	-	-
Benin	-	-	-	1	-	-
Total	43	57	54	85	22	10

ISC WUR 2022 by Subject Methodology

In ISC WUR 2022, the target universities in each subject area are the universities that are among the first 700 universities in the world in terms of the number of publications in that field, and in a three-year period, at least 150 documents published in any subject areas and indexed in InCites database.

The ISC WUR by subject includes 3 major criteria of Research, International Activity, and Innovation. Since its importance, the research criterion has got the most weight.

ISC Subject Ranking Results 2022 in Main Subject Areas
Rank	University	Country
	1 NATURAL SCIENCES
1	Harvard University	United States
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
3	Stanford University	United States
4	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
5	University of California Berkeley	United States
	2 ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
1	Tsinghua University	China
1	China University of Petroleum	China
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
4	Stanford University	United States
5	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore
	3 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
1	Harvard University	United States
2	University of Toronto	Canada
3	University College London	United Kingdom
4	Johns Hopkins University	United States
5	University of California San Francisco	United States
	4 AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES
1	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
2	China Agricultural University	China
3	Northwest A&F University - China	China
3	University of Florida	United States
5	University of California Davis	United States
	5 SOCIAL SCIENCES
1	Harvard University	United States
2	Stanford University	United States
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
4	University College London	United Kingdom
4	University of Michigan	United States
	6 HUMANITIES AND THE ARTS
1	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
2	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
3	University College London	United Kingdom
4	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
5	Harvard University	United States

ISC Subject Ranking Results 2022 in different Subject Areas
Subject Area	Rank	University	Country
1 NATURAL SCIENCES
1.01 Mathematics	1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	2	Universite Paris Saclay	France
	3	Stanford University	United States
	4	Harvard University	United States
	5	Sorbonne Universite	France
1.02 Computer and information sciences	1	Tsinghua University	China
	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	3	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
	3	University of California Berkeley	United States
	5	Stanford University	United States
1.03 Physical sciences	1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	2	University of California Berkeley	United States
	3	Harvard University	United States
	3	Princeton University	United States
	5	Universite Paris Saclay	France
1.04 Chemical sciences	1	Tsinghua University	China
	2	University of Science & Technology of China, CAS	China
	3	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore
	4	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
	5	Stanford University	United States
1.05 Earth and related environmental sciences	1	Tsinghua University	China
	2	China University of Petroleum	China
	3	China University of Geosciences	China
	4	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
	5	University of Colorado Boulder	United States
1.06 Biological sciences	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	3	University of California San Francisco	United States
	4	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
	5	Stanford University	United States
1.07 Other natural sciences	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	3	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
	4	Stanford University	United States
	5	Imperial College London	United Kingdom
2 ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
2.01 Civil engineering	1	Tongji University	China
	2	Tsinghua University	China
	3	Southeast University - China	China
	4	Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
	5	Chalmers University of Technology	Sweden
2.02 Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering	1	Tsinghua University	China
	2	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore
	3	Southeast University - China	China
	4	Zhejiang University	China
	5	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
2.03 Mechanical engineering	1	Xi'an Jiaotong University	China
	2	Tsinghua University	China
	3	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
	4	Harbin Institute of Technology	China
	5	Ton Duc Thang University	Vietnam
2.04 Chemical engineering	1	China University of Petroleum	China
	2	Tsinghua University	China
	3	Tianjin University	China
	4	Zhejiang University	China
	5	Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)	Norway
2.05 Materials engineering	1	Tsinghua University	China
	2	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore
	3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	3	University of Science & Technology of China, CAS	China
	5	Stanford University	United States
2.06 Medical engineering	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	Stanford University	United States
	3	Johns Hopkins University	United States
	4	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
	5	University of Toronto	Canada
2.07 Environmental engineering	1	China University of Petroleum	China
	2	Tsinghua University	China
	3	Zhejiang University	China
	4	Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)	Norway
	5	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
	5	China University of Geosciences	China
2.08 Environmental biotechnology	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	3	Stanford University	United States
	3	University of Pennsylvania	United States
	5	Technical University of Denmark	Denmark
2.09 Industrial biotechnology	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
	3	Stanford University	United States
	4	National University of Singapore	Singapore
	5	Sichuan University	China
2.1 Nano-technology	1	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore
	1	Tsinghua University	China
	3	Stanford University	United States
	4	University of Science & Technology of China, CAS	China
	5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
2.11 Other engineering and technologies	1	Zhejiang University	China
	2	Tsinghua University	China
	3	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
	4	Jiangnan University	China
	5	Harbin Institute of Technology	China
3 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
3.01 Basic medical	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	University College London	United Kingdom
	3	Johns Hopkins University	United States
	4	University of Pennsylvania	United States
	5	University of Toronto	Canada
3.02 Clinical medicine	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	University of Toronto	Canada
	3	University College London	United Kingdom
	4	Johns Hopkins University	United States
	5	University of California San Francisco	United States
	5	University of Pennsylvania	United States
3.03 Health sciences	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	Johns Hopkins University	United States
	3	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
	4	University of California San Francisco	United States
	5	University of Toronto	Canada
3.04 Medical biotechnology	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	University College London	United Kingdom
	2	University of Pennsylvania	United States
	4	Johns Hopkins University	United States
	5	University of California San Francisco	United States
3.05 Other medical sciences	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	University of Toronto	Canada
	3	University of Washington Seattle	United States
	4	Johns Hopkins University	United States
	5	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
4 AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES
4.01 Agriculture, forestry, fisheries	1	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
	2	Northwest A&F University - China	China
	3	China Agricultural University	China
	4	University of Florida	United States
	5	Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences	Sweden
4.02 Animal and dairy science	1	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	United States
	2	University of Guelph	Canada
	3	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
	4	University of Florida	United States
	5	Massey University	New Zealand
4.03 Veterinary science	1	University of London Royal Veterinary College	United Kingdom
	2	University of California Davis	United States
	3	University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna	Austria
	4	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
	5	Utrecht University	Netherlands
4.04 Agricultural biotechnology	1	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
	2	University of California Davis	United States
	3	Cornell University	United States
	4	University of Florida	United States
	5	China Agricultural University	China
4.05 Other agricultural science	1	Jiangnan University	China
	2	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
	3	China Agricultural University	China
	4	South China University of Technology	China
	5	Universidade de Sao Paulo	brazil
5 SOCIAL SCIENCES
5.01 Psychology and cognitive sciences	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	University College London	United Kingdom
	3	Stanford University	United States
	4	Utrecht University	Netherlands
	5	University of Toronto	Canada
5.02 Economics and business	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	3	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands
	4	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
	5	Trinity College Dublin	Ireland
5.03 Education	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	University College London	United Kingdom
	3	University of Michigan	United States
	4	University of Toronto	Canada
	5	Monash University	Australia
5.04 Sociology	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
	3	University of Michigan	United States
	4	University of Toronto	Canada
	5	University College London	United Kingdom
5.05 Law	1	Harvard University	United States
	2	Columbia University	United States
	3	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
	3	University of Pennsylvania	United States
	5	Yale University	United States
5.06 Political science	1	Stanford University	United States
	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
	3	Harvard University	United States
	4	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
	5	University of Pennsylvania	United States
5.07 Social and economic geography	1	Chalmers University of Technology	Sweden
	2	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
	3	University College London	United Kingdom
	4	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
	5	University of Leeds	United Kingdom
5.08 Media and communication	1	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
	2	Harvard University	United States
	3	Columbia University	United States
	4	University of Pennsylvania	United States
	5	Indiana University Bloomington	United States
5.09 Other social sciences	1	Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
	2	Washington State University	United States
	3	University of Michigan	United States
	4	University of Queensland	Australia
	5	Griffith University	Australia
	5	Johns Hopkins University	United States
	5	University of Surrey	United Kingdom
6 HUMANITIES AND THE ARTS
6.01 History and archaeology	1	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
	2	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
	3	University College London	United Kingdom
	4	Harvard University	United States
	5	University of Western Australia	Australia
6.02 Languages and literature	1	University College London	United Kingdom
	2	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
	3	University of Washington Seattle	United States
	4	Tsinghua University	China
	5	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
6.03 Philosophy, ethics and religion	1	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
	2	Harvard University	United States
	3	Cornell University	United States
	4	University of Melbourne	Australia
	5	Monash University	Australia
6.04 Art	1	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
	2	KU Leuven	Belgium
	3	Indiana University Bloomington	United States
	3	University of Michigan	United States
	5	Ohio State University	United States
6.05 Other Humanities	1	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
	2	King's College London	United Kingdom
	3	University of Toronto	Canada
	4	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
	5	University of Leeds	United Kingdom