In recent years, international university rankings have become a key indicator for measuring the scientific, research, and institutional capabilities of countries. Among them, the Leiden Ranking, recognized as one of the most reputable university evaluation systems, places particular emphasis on scientific outputs, publication production, citation impact, and research collaboration. The latest 2025 Leiden report offers a meaningful snapshot of universities in the Islamic world—one in which Iran ranks first.
According to this ranking, Iran has the largest share with 48 universities listed among the top institutions in the Islamic world, surpassing Turkey with 45 universities and Saudi Arabia with 20. Following these three countries are Pakistan with 16 universities and Egypt with 15. This distribution indicates that scientific competition in the Islamic world is primarily concentrated among a few regional academic powers.
In the subsequent ranks, Malaysia has seven universities, Indonesia five, and the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and Morocco each have four universities on the list. While the numbers are smaller, their presence reflects efforts to consolidate international academic standing and integrate into the global knowledge production network.
An important point in analyzing these statistics is that the number of top universities does not necessarily equate to having the single best university. The Leiden Ranking focuses more on the breadth and depth of scientific output, highlighting which countries have successfully established their higher education systems as networked and globally recognized. From this perspective, Iran’s top position reflects the relative resilience of its university structure, the breadth of higher education centers, and the continuity of research activities under various conditions.
This achievement can be attributed to a combination of extensive human capital, a focus on public higher education, and both quantitative and qualitative growth in scientific output. However, maintaining this position requires simultaneous attention to education quality, university-industry collaboration, internationalization, and addressing challenges such as brain drain. The 2025 Leiden Ranking should therefore be seen less as a conclusion and more as a starting point for rethinking the future trajectory of universities in Iran and the Islamic world.