U.S. science lead narrows as China, India, Iran rise

June 6, 2026

1–2 minutes

Summary

Research rankings and agency data point to a more multipolar global science landscape, with gains by China, India, and Iran.

Why this matters

The article points to changes in where scientific research capacity is growing, a shift tied to economic competitiveness, technology development, and national security. For U.S. policymakers, it underscores the role of sustained research funding, universities, and talent recruitment in maintaining scientific leadership.

Iran, despite broad international sanctions and limited access to Western research infrastructure, has emerged as one of the fastest-rising scientific producers, according to Amir Faghri, founder and chief executive of ScholarGPS.

Faghri wrote that Iran’s gains, along with China’s leadership in several fields and India’s rapid expansion, showed a broader shift in global science and engineering. He said the United States remained the leading research power overall and continued to lead medicine, life sciences, and biology in ScholarGPS lifetime and recent five-year rankings, which are based on research output, effect, and quality.

But he said China led recent five-year rankings in engineering, physical sciences, and agriculture. Iran, he wrote, moved from outside the top 20 in lifetime rankings to inside the top 10 in recent five-year rankings in engineering, agriculture, and public health.

Faghri said data from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute pointed to a broader redistribution of scientific capacity with implications for U.S. competitiveness, technology, and national security.

He attributed the shift to sustained investment in education and research, and to stronger integration into global research networks. In Iran, decades of expansion increased the number of universities from about 20 before the 1979 revolution to more than 600, with thousands of additional higher education and research institutes, according to UNESCO and the World Bank. Student enrollment rose from about 150,000 to nearly 4 million, he wrote.

Faghri said women now make up a majority of university students in Iran and have significant representation in scientific and technical fields, citing UNESCO and World Bank data. He contrasted that with the United States, where women remain underrepresented in some science, technology, engineering, and math fields.

Iranian researchers continued to collaborate internationally, especially with peers in China and, to a lesser extent, Russia, while ties to the United States persisted through diaspora networks, he wrote.

Faghri said recent political pressure on major U.S. research universities and federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, along with funding cuts and uncertainty in higher education, could weaken U.S. research leadership if sustained.

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Full story +

Iran, despite broad international sanctions and limited access to Western research infrastructure, has emerged as one of the fastest-rising scientific producers, according to Amir Faghri, founder and chief executive of ScholarGPS.

Faghri wrote that Iran’s gains, along with China’s leadership in several fields and India’s rapid expansion, showed a broader shift in global science and engineering. He said the United States remained the leading research power overall and continued to lead medicine, life sciences, and biology in ScholarGPS lifetime and recent five-year rankings, which are based on research output, effect, and quality.

But he said China led recent five-year rankings in engineering, physical sciences, and agriculture. Iran, he wrote, moved from outside the top 20 in lifetime rankings to inside the top 10 in recent five-year rankings in engineering, agriculture, and public health.

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He attributed the shift to sustained investment in education and research, and to stronger integration into global research networks. In Iran, decades of expansion increased the number of universities from about 20 before the 1979 revolution to more than 600, with thousands of additional higher education and research institutes, according to UNESCO and the World Bank. Student enrollment rose from about 150,000 to nearly 4 million, he wrote.

Faghri said women now make up a majority of university students in Iran and have significant representation in scientific and technical fields, citing UNESCO and World Bank data. He contrasted that with the United States, where women remain underrepresented in some science, technology, engineering, and math fields.

Iranian researchers continued to collaborate internationally, especially with peers in China and, to a lesser extent, Russia, while ties to the United States persisted through diaspora networks, he wrote.

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