Iran Scratch

For [a while], Israel and the US have been increasingly concerned with Iran’s growing nuclear capabilities. Israel’s Mossad has been carrying out covert campaigns to cripple their nuclear developments, which has involved cyber attacks on critical nuclear infrastructure and airstrikes or explosions at nuclear facilities. Sometimes, their covert campaigns have involved targeting and assassinating academic nuclear physicists. This approach is more controversial, as scientists are typically considered civilians, and Iran has claimed that their assassinated scientists were not involved in weapons development. Still, Israel continues to target what they consider high-profile nuclear scientists, most recently carrying out targeted airstrikes that killed 14 nuclear scientists and set off the Twelve-day War in the Summer of 2025.

In the aftermath of the Twelve-day War, Israel’s ambassador to France asserted that the assassinations would set Iran’s nuclear program back “by quite a number of years.”¹ In this project, we empirically evaluate the plausibility of this claim. We use publication data across time to operationalize nuclear program development in terms of academic output in relevant fields.

In our pilot study, we track rates of academic output in nuclear-related areas of work at Shahid Beheshti University across time. Three events informed our reasoning to identify Shahid Beheshti as an institution of interest. In 2011, the EU specifically identified the university as an entity controlled by Iran’s Ministry of Defense and an institution that “carries out scientific research on nuclear weapons”². In addition, Israel has targeted two eminent nuclear scientists at the university: F. Abbasi Davani, assassinated in the Twelve Day War of 2025; and M. Shahriari, assassinated by the Mossad in 2010. Accordingly, we use research productivity at Shahid Behehsti to measure the effects of covert campaigns against Iran’s nuclear program.

Coincidentally, Israel attempted to assassinate F. Abbasi Davani when they succesfully assassinated M. Shahriari in 2010, but failed to assassinate him until the recent airstrikes in June 2025. In study 1, we leverage this circumstance to isolate the effect of terror in the form of an attempted assassination and the removal of knowledge that occurs from a successful assassination.

*It is worth noting that the US – also concerned about Iran’s nuclear capabilities – have taken a different and less morbid approach in a bid to cripple Iran’s growing field of nuclear physics. Since around 2005, the US has been carrying out a campaign to draw emerging Iranian nuclear physicists to work in the US before they become prominent scientists. In future iterations of this work, we will attempt to empirically compare the effectiveness of these two approaches.

**It is also worth noting here that the US has largely not explicitly claimed responsibility in these campaigns (until the Twelve-Day War when the US carried out airstrikes on nuclear facilities on the 9th day) but has regularly been implicated as a facilitator of Israel’s operations.

Multiple author profiles on OpenAlex appear to contain works done by Majid Shahriari, and mutliple “M Shariari”s appear across these profiles. Possible Majid Shahriari author IDs:

A5111646381 (43 works)
A5112039075 (13 works)
A5028976637 (2 works)
A5102177495 (1 work)

show code

library('tidyverse')
setwd("~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box/Iran")

works_5028 = readRDS("works_MS_5028976637.rds")
works_5102 = readRDS("works_MS_5102177495.rds")
works_5111 = readRDS("works_MS_5111646381.rds")
works_5112 = readRDS("works_MS_5112039075.rds")


majid_works_long = rbind(works_5028 %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5028976637") %>% unnest(topics),
                      works_5102 %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5102177495") %>% unnest(topics),
                      works_5111 %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% filter(map_lgl(topics, ~ nrow(.x) > 0)) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5111646381") %>% unnest(topics),
                      works_5112 %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5112039075") %>% unnest(topics)) %>% 
  rename(topic=display_name) %>% 
  rename_with(~ gsub("\\.?display_name", "", .x)) %>% 
  mutate(across(where(is.character),~ gsub("https://openalex.org/", "", .x, fixed = TRUE)))

library('rempsyc')
nice_table(majid_works_long %>% distinct(title) %>% mutate(id = 1:58), title="TABLE 1. Works published under all four possible M Shahriari author IDs")

TABLE 1. Works published under all four possible M Shahriari author IDs
title	id
Comparison of Electron-Beam Dose Distributions in a Heterogeneous Phantom Obtained Using Radiochromic Film Dosimetry and Monte Carlo Simulation	1
Assessment of different MCNP Monte Carlo codes in electron absorbed dose	2
INVESTIGATION OF CHARGED PARTICLE TRANSPORT IN MAGNETIC FIELD AND SIMULATION OF SYNCHROTRON RADIATION BY FLUKA	3
Soil Moisture Estimation Using Combined SAR and Optical Imagery: Application of Seasonal Machine Learning Algorithms	4
Surface displacement measurement and modeling of the Shah-Gheyb salt dome in southern Iran using InSAR and machine learning techniques	5
Estimation of land displacement in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, using InSAR: Comparisons with GNSS and machine learning models	6
Neural network architecture optimization using automated machine learning for borehole resistivity measurements	7
A full quantitative analysis of 18 MV photon beam from 2100 C/D-Varian clinical linear accelerator with and without flattening filter	8
INVESTIGATION OF DIFFERENT ION EFFECTS ON THE ALUMINUM SAMPLES WITH A 2.5KJ MATER TYPE PLASMA FOCUS DEVICE	9
Advantages of mesh tallying in MCNPX for 3D dose calculations in radiotherapy	10
Monte Carlo estimation of electron contamination in a 18 MV clinical photon beam	11
An advanced method for determination of loss of coolant accident in nuclear power plants	12
Investigation of Spatial Distribution of Hydrogen and Argon Ions and Effects of them on Aluminum Samples in a 2.5 kJ Mater Type Plasma Focus Device	13
Hybrid photoneutron source optimization for electron accelerator-based BNCT	14
Xenon transient simulation of the VVER-1000 nuclear reactor using adiabatic approximation	15
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AN ACCURATE TIMING SINGLE CHANNEL ANALYZER	16
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A HIGH PRECISION TAC	17
Unfolding the neutron spectrum of a NE213 scintillator using artificial neural networks	18
Monte Carlo estimation of photoneutrons contamination from high-energy X-ray medical accelerators in treatment room and maze: a simplified model	19
Calculation of time-dependent neutronic parameters using Monte Carlo method	20
Monte Carlo Based Suggestion of the Best Choice for Material of a Multileaf Collimator (MLC) and the Required Thickness	21
"Research Note" DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A HIGH PRECISION TAC *	22
An Investigation on the Internal Wedge Factor Estimation for an Elekta Linac using Monte Carlo Simulation	23
The Effects of Hydrogenous Medium on MRI Image of MAGICA Gel Dosimeter	24
Simulation of Human Eye for Ophthalmic Brachytherapy Dosimetry Using MCNP-4C Code	25
Determination of Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) in Nuclear Power Plants Using Signal Processing Method	26
Monte Carlo simulation of X-ray spectra and evaluation of filter effect using MCNP4C and FLUKA code	27
Calculation of CR-39 efficiency for fast neutrons using the MCNP and SRIM codes	28
Calculation of the importance-weighted neutron generation time using MCNIC method	29
Monte Carlo calculation of CR-39 efficiency for fast neutron detection using a combination of MCNP and SRIM codes, and comparison with experimental results	30
Comparison of measured and Monte Carlo calculated dose distributions from “circular collimators” for radiosurgical beams	31
Calculation of neutron importance function in fissionable assemblies using Monte Carlo method	32
Estimation of contrast agent concentration in intra- and extra-vascular spaces of brain tissue	33
Comparative assessment of different computational models for generation of X-ray spectra in diagnostic radiology and mammography	34
Assessment of different computational models for generation of x‐ray spectra in diagnostic radiology and mammography	35
MCNP4C-based Monte Carlo simulator for fan- and cone-beam x-ray CT: development and experimental validation	36
Slit slat collimator optimization with respect to MTF	37
Monte Carlo simulation of x-ray spectra in diagnostic radiology and mammography using MCNP4C	38
Monte Carlo source simulation technique for solution of interference reactions in INAA experiments: a preliminary report	39
Elemental characterization of TSP and two size fractions of airborne particulate matter from Tehran by INAA and AAS	40
Application of MCNP4C Monte Carlo code in radiation dosimetry in heterogeneous phantom	41
Gamma irradiator dose mapping simulation using the MCNP code and benchmarking with dosimetry	42
Dose distribution of the IR-136 irradiator using a Monte Carlo code and comparison with dosimetry	43
Borehole parametric study for neutron induced capture γ-ray spectrometry using the MCNP code	44
Borehole prompt gamma neutron activation and comparison with Monte Carlo simulation using MCNP code	45
Analytical Modeling of Bank Cash Flow: An Uncertain System Dynamics Approach	46
The effects of variations in the density and composition of eye materials on ophthalmic brachytherapy dosimetry	47
Feasibility study on the use of uranium in photoneutron target and BSA optimization for Linac based BNCT	48
A spatial kinetic model for simulating VVER-1000 start-up transient	49
Dose calculation and in-phantom measurement in BNCT using response matrix method	50
High-frequency eigenmodes of a coaxial wave guide containing a relativistic annular electron beam with a coaxial wiggler	51
Beam shaping assembly optimization of Linac based BNCT and in-phantom depth dose distribution analysis of brain tumors for verification of a beam model	52
Suggesting a new design for multileaf collimator leaves based on Monte Carlo simulation of two commercial systems	53
Neutron Radiography System Collimator Design via Monte Carlo Calculation	54
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT PHYTOREMEDIATION ON DISSIPATION RATE OF TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN A LIME SOIL	55
Discrete formulation for two-dimensional multigroup neutron diffusion equations	56
Direct discrete method and its application to neutron transport problems	57
Direct Discrete Method for Neutronic Calculations	58

show code

### tagging red flags
library(stringr)
majid_works_long = majid_works_long %>% 
  mutate(red_flag = ifelse(str_detect(tolower(title), ('soil moisture|surface displacement|land displacement')), 1, #1 = RED: author is mohammad shahriari
                           ifelse(str_detect(tolower(title), ('borehole resistivity measurements')), 2, #2 = RED: author is an Mostafa shahriari
                                 ifelse(str_detect(tolower(title), ('bank cash')), 3,   #3 = RED: author is a b-school majid shahriari from Islamic Azad University
                                    ifelse(str_detect(tolower(title), ('phytoremediation')), 4,  #4 = RED: author is malak hossein shahriari
                                          ifelse(str_detect(tolower(title), ('borehole p')), 5, #5 = YELLOW FLAG: probably majid from grad school
                                                 ifelse(str_detect(tolower(title), ('airborne')), 6, 0))))))) #6 = YELLOW FLAG: weird topic but probably majid based on institution

Notes:

We searched OpenAlex for any names that could be Majid Shahriari, including M Shahriari, M. Shahriari, Majid Shahriari, and other ways to spell Shahriari We outlined the list of all works published under four researcher profiles on Open Alex that could reasonably be our researcher of interest. It is obvious that some of the works were misplaced on these researcher profiles, such that some of these works were not written by our Majid Shahriari of interest. We did a combination of the following to attempt to red-flag works that were not his:

sorted the works by year and identified works well after his death in 2010. Searched those works to track down the author’s name or institution to verify whether or not they were our Majid
submitted the list of titles to chatGPT to identify any works that stood out as ill fitting to the general nuclear physicist profile. chatGPT identified 5 works that were clearly a bad fit, and 4 more works that were borderline cases. We searched for those works and attempted to find any indication that they were not written by our Majid Shahriari of interest.

Accordingly, we removed the following works from our analysis:

Authored by Mohammed Shahriari:
- Shahriari, M. A., Aghighi, H., Azadbakht, M., Ashourloo, D., Matkan, A. A., Brakhasi, F., & Walker, J. P. (2025). Soil moisture estimation using combined SAR and optical imagery: Application of seasonal machine learning algorithms. Advances in Space Research, 75(8), 6207-6221.
- Shami, S., Shahriari, M. A., Nilfouroushan, F., Forghani, N., Salimi, M., & Reshadi, M. A. M. (2024). Surface displacement measurement and modeling of the Shah-Gheyb salt dome in southern Iran using InSAR and machine learning techniques. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 132, 104016.
- Abdalla, A., Shami, S., Shahriari, M. A., & Azar, M. K. (2024). Estimation of land displacement in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, using InSAR: comparisons with GNSS and machine learning models. The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, 27(2), 204-215.
Authored by Mostafa Shahriari:
- Shahriari, M., Pardo, D., Kargaran, S., & Teijeiro, T. (2023). Neural network architecture optimization using automated machine learning for borehole resistivity measurements. Geophysical Journal International, 234(3), 2487-2500.
Authored by a Majid Shahriari from Islamic Azad University:
- Shahriari, M. (2015). Analytical Modeling of Bank Cash Flow: An Uncertain System Dynamics Approach. Asian Journal of Research in Banking and Finance, 5(1), 134-146.
Authored by Malak Hossein Shahriari:
- SHAHRIARI, M., SAVAGHEBI, F. G. R., & MINAEI, T. D. (2008). AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT PHYTOREMEDIATION ON DISSIPATION RATE OF TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN A LIME SOIL.

List of removed works and their top topics:

show code

nice_table(majid_works_long %>% distinct(title, .keep_all=TRUE) %>% filter(red_flag > 0 & red_flag< 5), title="TABLE 2. List of removed works and their topics")

TABLE 2. List of removed works and their topics
id	title	publication_date	topic	score	subfield	field	domain	author_id	red_flag
W4407030299	Soil Moisture Estimation Using Combined SAR and Optical Imagery: Application of Seasonal Machine Learning Algorithms	2025-01-01	Soil Moisture and Remote Sensing	1.00	Environmental Engineering	Environmental Science	Physical Sciences	A5111646381	1.00
W4400541353	Surface displacement measurement and modeling of the Shah-Gheyb salt dome in southern Iran using InSAR and machine learning techniques	2024-07-11	Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques	1.00	Aerospace Engineering	Engineering	Physical Sciences	A5111646381	1.00
W4392573751	Estimation of land displacement in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, using InSAR: Comparisons with GNSS and machine learning models	2024-03-07	Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Applications and Techniques	1.00	Aerospace Engineering	Engineering	Physical Sciences	A5111646381	1.00
W4381846028	Neural network architecture optimization using automated machine learning for borehole resistivity measurements	2023-04-27	Geophysical and Geoelectrical Methods	1.00	Geophysics	Earth and Planetary Sciences	Physical Sciences	A5111646381	2.00
W1971450968	Analytical Modeling of Bank Cash Flow: An Uncertain System Dynamics Approach	2015-01-01	Banking stability, regulation, efficiency	0.66	Finance	Economics, Econometrics and Finance	Social Sciences	A5112039075	3.00
W2272663843	AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT PHYTOREMEDIATION ON DISSIPATION RATE OF TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN A LIME SOIL	2008-01-01	Municipal Solid Waste Management	0.21	Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering	Environmental Science	Physical Sciences	A5112039075	4.00

In addition, the following were flagged by chatGPT as “borderline cases” but I couldn’t find any reason to verify that they weren’t our researcher of interest:

Odd topic (air quality) that is out of M Shahriari’s wheelhouse, but the author M Shahriari here is listed as from the Nuclear Engineering Dept at Shahid Beheshti
- Athari, M., Sohrabpour, M., Shahriari, M., & Rostami, S. (2004). Elemental characterization of TSP and two size fractions of airborne particulate matter from Tehran by INAA and AAS. Journal of radioanalytical and nuclear chemistry, 260(2), 351-356.
“Borehole” topic is odd for him, but it seems like they were done when he was at grad school (?) at Amir Kabir University of Technology
- Shahriari, M., & Sohrabpour, M. (2000). Borehole parametric study for neutron induced capture γ-ray spectrometry using the MCNP code. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 52(1), 127-135.
- Sohrabpour, M., Shahriari, M., Zarifian, V., & Moghadam, K. K. (1999). Borehole prompt gamma neutron activation and comparison with Monte Carlo simulation using MCNP code: Borehole PGNAA experiment comparison with MCNP. Applied radiation and isotopes, 50(4), 805-810.

List of “yellow flagged” papers and their top topics

show code

nice_table(majid_works_long  %>% distinct(title, .keep_all=TRUE) %>% filter(red_flag >4), title = "TABLE 3. List of 'yellow flagged' papers and their topics")

TABLE 3. List of 'yellow flagged' papers and their topics
id	title	publication_date	topic	score	subfield	field	domain	author_id	red_flag
W2078244416	Elemental characterization of TSP and two size fractions of airborne particulate matter from Tehran by INAA and AAS	2004-01-01	Air Quality and Health Impacts	1.00	Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis	Environmental Science	Physical Sciences	A5111646381	6.00
W2071311553	Borehole parametric study for neutron induced capture γ-ray spectrometry using the MCNP code	2000-01-01	Nuclear Physics and Applications	1.00	Radiation	Physics and Astronomy	Physical Sciences	A5111646381	5.00
W1553051535	Borehole prompt gamma neutron activation and comparison with Monte Carlo simulation using MCNP code	1999-04-01	Nuclear Physics and Applications	1.00	Radiation	Physics and Astronomy	Physical Sciences	A5111646381	5.00

show code

majid_works_long = majid_works_long  %>% filter(red_flag <1 | red_flag >4)

majid_works = majid_works_long%>% 
  group_by(id) %>% 
  mutate(row_num = row_number()) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  pivot_wider(
    id_cols = c(title, publication_date, id, author_id),
    names_from = row_num,
    values_from = c(topic, score, subfield, field, domain),
    names_glue = "{.value}_{row_num}")

# write.csv(majid_works,"~/Downloads/MShahriari_works.csv", row.names = FALSE)

After consolidating the author profiles and resolving the red flags, we have a total of 52 works for Majid Shahriari

Possible author IDs for Freyedoon Abbasi Davani (or: Feryidoon, Freidoon, Fereidon, Fereydoun, Fereydoon, Ferydoon; Abbassi Davani, Abbasi-Davani, AbbasiDavani

A5046683464 (1 work)
A5053153243 (1 work)
A5019064523 (1 work)
A5103485250 (1 work)
A5030806477 (1 work)
A5103401909 (13 works)
A5103918614 (1 work)
A5024862143 (1 work)
A5037724110 (104 works)

With Majid Shahriari, our issue was false positives (including works that were not actually by him). Here, I think we’re dealing with an issue of false negatives: not including all the works that F Abbasi Davani published. For this reason, I have attempted to compile a list of all the possible spellings and combinations of his name as they may be indexed in OpenAlex. But I didn’t spend a bunch of time trying to identify if there are works in the list that he didn’t actually write.

Note that F. Abbasi Davani has a Google scholar page (M Shahriari did not) on which he is associated with 143 papers. This list only yields 125. At some point in the future, we may be interested in tracking down the missing papers and adding them.

show code

abbasi_works_long = rbind(readRDS('works_FAD_5046.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5046683464") %>% unnest(topics),
                     readRDS('works_FAD_5053.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5053153243") %>% unnest(topics),
                     readRDS('works_FAD_5019.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% filter(map_lgl(topics, ~ nrow(.x) > 0)) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5019064523") %>% unnest(topics),
                     readRDS('works_FAD_5103.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5103485250") %>% unnest(topics),
                     readRDS('works_FAD_5030.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5030806477") %>% unnest(topics),
                     readRDS('works_FAD_510340.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5103401909") %>% unnest(topics),
                     readRDS('works_FAD_51039.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5103918614") %>% unnest(topics),
                     readRDS('works_FAD_5024.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5024862143") %>% unnest(topics),
                     readRDS('works_FAD_5037.rds') %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5037724110") %>% unnest(topics)) %>%  
  rename(topic=display_name) %>% 
  rename_with(~ gsub("\\.?display_name", "", .x)) %>% 
  mutate(across(where(is.character),~ gsub("https://openalex.org/", "", .x, fixed = TRUE)))

abbasi_works = abbasi_works_long %>% 
  group_by(id) %>% 
  mutate(row_num = row_number()) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  pivot_wider(
    id_cols = c(title, publication_date, id, author_id),
    names_from = row_num,
    values_from = c(topic, score, subfield, field, domain),
    names_glue = "{.value}_{row_num}")

After consolidating all author profiles, we have a total of 125 works for Freyedoon Abbasi Davani

show code

nice_table(abbasi_works %>% select(title) %>% mutate(id = row_number()), title="TABLE 5. Works published under all four possible F Abbasi Davani author IDs")

TABLE 5. Works published under all four possible F Abbasi Davani author IDs
title	id
Design and Simulation of Solenoid for Buncher of a Linear Accelerator	1
Implementation of Main Waveguide Cavities of Electron Linear Accelerator Using Integrated and Separable Methods and Comparing Their Performance	2
Preparation and biodistribution assessment of low specific activity 177Lu-DOTATOC for optimization studies	3
X-ray and neutron pulse separation of plasma focus using fast and large volume plastic scintillator detector	4
Design and implementation of an inductively coupled plasma source and comparison: The simulation results with the measurements	5
Choosing the Most Suitable Sample Preparation Method for Measuring Uranium Isotopes in Soil Samples by Alpha Spectroscopy	6
Conceptual Design and Simulation of Alpha-Beta Detector for Surface Contamination Measurements	7
Design of Beam Position Monitoring System for IPM Low Energy Electron LINAC	8
The Resonance Frequency Shift After Applying the Cooling System for a Side Coupled Standing Wave Linac	9
The Study of the Length and Shape of Beam in a High Power Electron Accelerator	10
Current Status of IPM Linac Control System	11
Design and Simulation of Voltage Multiplier Column of a 300keV, 10mAParallel Fed Cockcroft Walton Electron Accelerator for Industrial Applications	12
Investigation on neutron cross section libraries used in MCNP code for PGNAA simulation	13
Simulation of Optimum Thickness and Configuration of 10 MeV Cyclotron Shield	14
X-Ray Measurement and Enhancement of SBUPF1 Plasma Focus Device in Different Ar Pressures and Operating Voltages	15
Design and construction of pulsed neutron diagnostic system for plasma focus device (SBUPF1)	16
Experimental Study on the Importance of Accurate Neutron Angular Distribution Measurement for Determination of Neutron Yield in a 2.5 kJ Mather type PF	17
Implementation of main waveguide cavities of electron linear accelerator using integrated and separable methods and comparing their performance	18
Calibration of Activation Counter by a 2.48 kJ Plasma Focus Device	19
Total skin electron therapy (TSET): Monte Carlo Simulation and implementation	20
Simulation and Analysis of the Accelerator Set and the Electromagnetic Focusing Lenses	21
Design of carbon ion stripper of a tandem accelerator for AMS radiocarbon dating	22
Design and optimization of charge exchange cell for high energy H− to H+ conversion	23
Characterization of hydrogen plasma bulk in 2.45 GHz ECR ion source	24
Characterization and modeling of plasma sheath in 2.45 GHz hydrogen ECR ion sources	25
Construction and measurement of the prototype side-coupled standing-wave tube for electron Linac	26
Determination of Penetration Depth of Plasma Focus Produced Deuterium Ions into the Tungsten Surface for Fusion Reactor Plasma Facing Material Study	27
Demonstration of the etching cobalt oxide grown on the stainless steel as a base metal surface using F2/He dielectric barrier discharge plasma in atmospheric pressure	28
Design and Construction of a Traveling Wave Electron Linear Accelerator at Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)	29
Calculating the maximum possible yield for a typical pyroelectric neutron generator	30
New beam delivery system design for industrial electron accelerator at Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Iran	31
Comparison of the Effects of Fusion Plasma Ions on Aluminum and Tungsten Using a Plasma Focus Device	32
A dual-energy pyroelectric accelerator	33
Time-Dependent Thermo-Electro-Magneto-Mechanical Analysis of the TF Coil in Damavand Upgrade Tokamak With Longer Pulse Operation	34
Design of 100 MHz RF cavity for the storage ring of the Iranian Light Source Facility (ILSF)	35
Measurements of the electrical parameters and wound area for investigation on the effect of different non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma sources on wound healing time	36
Hybrid method for digital pulse shape discrimination in organic scintillation detectors	37
Dynamical and steady-state properties of absorption-dispersion curves in a monolayer graphene system	38
Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma source design and construction using Argon as the working gas for wound healing	39
Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma source design and construction using Argon as the working gas for wound healing	40
Behaviour analysis of a capacitive loaded RF cavity for the Iranian Light Source Facility (ILSF)	41
Multiphysics analysis of side-coupled RF cavity	42
Conceptual design of 30 kW-NBI injector using a multi-cusp ion source for heating of D-shaped Damavand tokamak plasma	43
Investigating different methods for calculating the lambda equilibrium parameter for the plasma column in the Damavand tokamak	44
Determination of proper treatment time for in vivo blood coagulation and wound healing application by non-thermal helium plasma jet	45
The use of artificial neural networks to distinguish naturally occurring radioactive materials from unauthorized radioactive materials using a plastic scintillation detector	46
Determination of coagulation time of in vivo cut bleeding treated by non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma	47
Absorbed Dose Estimation of 177Lu-DOTATOC in Adenocarcinoma Breast Cancer Bearing Mice	48
Time Dependent Biodistribution Modeling of 177Lu-DOTATOC Using Compartmental Analysis	49
Monte Carlo study and design of system for implementation of Rotational Total Skin Electron Irradiation technique	50
Estimation of Human Absorbed Dose Using Compartmental Model	51
Noise reduction of PGNAA spectrum using empirical mode decomposition technique	52
Design, construction and test of RF solid state power amplifier for IRANCYC-10	53
Biodistribution Studies of 177Lu-DOTATOC in Mouse Tumor Model: Possible Utilization in Adenocarcinoma Breast Cancer Treatment	54
Conceptual design of an ion source for the damavand tokamak neutral beam injection	55
Calibration curves for on-line leakage detection using radiotracer injection method	56
Monte Carlo Simulation of a Segmented Detector for Low-Energy Electron Antineutrinos	57
Design of a side coupled standing wave accelerating tube for NSTRI e-Linac	58
Compartmental Model Approach for Dosimetric Calculations of ¹⁷⁷Lu-DOTATOC in Adenocarcinoma Breast Cancer Based on Animal Data	59
Design of cavities of a standing wave accelerating tube for a 6 MeV electron linear accelerator	60
Electron filed measurement of a prototype tube constructed for a traveling wave electron linear accelerator	61
Design and construction of cavity frequency measurement and tuning systems of traveling wave electron linear accelerator	62
Experimental investigation on electrical characteristics and dose measurement of dielectric barrier discharge plasma device used for therapeutic application	63
Identification of the plasma boundary shape and position in the Damavand tokamak	64
A novel technique for detection efficiency determination of HPGe	65
Non-thermal atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma source construction and investigation on the effect of grid on wound healing application	66
Triple Therapy of HER2<sup>+</sup> Cancer Using Radiolabeled Multifunctional Iron Oxide Nanoparticles and Alternating Magnetic Field	67
Computational investigation of isotopic signature of radioxenon released from Tehran research reactor	68
Study of plasma equilibrium in toroidal fusion devices using mesh-free numerical calculation method	69
Monte Carlo study of neutron-ambient dose equivalent to patient in treatment room	70
New aspect determination of photoneutron contamination in 18 MV medical linear accelerator	71
Simulation of open-loop plasma vertical movement response in the Damavand tokamak using closed-loop subspace system identification	72
Discrete Fourier Transform Method for Discrimination of Digital Scintillation Pulses in Mixed Neutron-Gamma Fields	73
Differentiation method for localization of Compton edge in organic scintillation detectors	74
A quality survey on different shielding configurations of gamma ray detector used with a portable PGNAA system	75
Experimental determination of some equilibrium parameter of Damavand tokamak by magnetic probe measurements for representing a physical model for plasma vertical movement	76
Optimization and Evaluation of 177lu-Dotatoc as a Potential Agent for Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy	77
Introduction of design and construction electron linear accelerator project in Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences(IPM)	78
Introduction of design and construction electron linear accelerator project in Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences(IPM)	79
Investigation of using shrinking method in construction of Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences Electron Linear Accelerator TW-tube (IPM TW-Linac tube)	80
Dynamics of pyroelectric accelerators	81
DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND OPTIMIZATION OF THOMSON PARABOLA SPECTROMETER AS A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL IN PLASMA FOCUS DEVICE	82
Digital neutron-gamma discrimination in a wide energy range using pulse reconstruction method	83
Determination of surface electric charge profile in pyroelectric crystals	84
Design, construction and tuning of S-band coupler for electron linear accelerator of institute for research in fundamental sciences (IPM E-linac)	85
Investigation of deuterated target effects on neutron yield in plasma focus device SBUMTPF1	86
Synthesis, characterization and theranostic evaluation of Indium-111 labeled multifunctional superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles	87
A novel numerical method to eliminate thickness effect in dual energy X-ray imaging used in baggage inspection	88
Design and Simulation of Side Coupled Six MeV Linac for X-Ray Cargo Inspection	89
Study of Geometrical Parameters and their Tolerances in Optimization of Accelerating Cells of Side Coupled Linac	90
SIMULATION STUDY OF ELECTRON GUN FOR SIX MEV LINAC FOR X-RAY CARGO INSPECTION	91
Detection and dosimetry studies on the response of silicon diodes to an<sup>241</sup>Am-Be source	92
Radio-immunoconjugated, Dox-loaded, surface-modified superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as a bioprobe for breast cancer tumor theranostics	93
Preparation and quality control of 177Lu-chitosan for radiosynovectomy	94
Dosimetry Methods of Fast Neutron Using the Semiconductor Diodes	95
GAMMA AND NEUTRON DOSIMETRY IN MIXED RADIATION FIELDS USING A SINGLE SILICON DIODE	96
Spectrometry and dosimetry of fast neutrons using pin diode detectors	97
Optimum design of multi-layer K-edge filter and multi-stage detectors for triple energy bone densitometer	98
Optix: A Monte Carlo scintillation light transport code	99
Energy and Angular Distributions of High-Energy Nitrogen Ion of Plasma Focus Device SBUMTPF1 by Aluminum Filters Coated on Polycarbonate Nuclear Track Detector	100
Development of (177)Lu-phytate Complex for Radiosynovectomy.	101
133 MODELING EFFECT OF 6 MEV SIDE COUPLED STANDING WAVE CAVITY GEOMETRICAL CHANGE DUE TO LACK OF PROPER COOLING ON DOSE DISTRIBUTION USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD AND MONTE CARLO CODES.	102
DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF PREBUNCHER FOR S-BAND LINEAR ACCELERATOR	103
INVESTIGATION OF CHARGED PARTICLE TRANSPORT IN MAGNETIC FIELD AND SIMULATION OF SYNCHROTRON RADIATION BY FLUKA	104
DESIGN OF HIGH POWER PULSE MODULATOR FOR DRIVING OF TWYSTRON TUBE USED IN S-BAND LINEAR ELECTRON ACCELERATOR	105
DESIGN AND DETERMINATION OF OPTIMISED DIMENSIONS, EFFICENCY AND ANGULAR RESPONSE OF A LONG-COUNTOR; AND INTRODUCING THE CONSTRUCTION METHOD OF A NEUTRON COUNTER WITH A WIDE-RANGE RESPONSE	106
INVESTIGATION OF DIFFERENT ION EFFECTS ON THE ALUMINUM SAMPLES WITH A 2.5KJ MATER TYPE PLASMA FOCUS DEVICE	107
CONSTRUCTION OF DISK-LOADED BUNCHER FOR S-BAND LOW ENERGY TW ELECTRON LINAC	108
A DESIGN OF THERMIONIC ELECTRON GUN FOR TRAVELING WAVE ELECTRON- LINAC IN ORDER TO INJECT BEAM INTO BOOSTER SYNCHROTRON ACCELERATOR	109
Experimental Study of the Iranian Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Device as a Continuous Neutron Generator	110
Design and simulation of an accelerating and focusing system	111
Design and Fabrication of 11.2 kJ Mather-Type Plasma Focus IR-MPF-1 with High Drive Parameter	112
Investigation of Spatial Distribution of Hydrogen and Argon Ions and Effects of them on Aluminum Samples in a 2.5 kJ Mater Type Plasma Focus Device	113
Comparison of physical sputtering and ion plating methods for investigation of hydrogen distribution into the hydrogen targets	114
MAGNETIC PULSE COMPRESSION IN POWER SUPPLIES OF RADIATION GENERATOR DEVICES	115
SELECTION AND OPTIMIZATION OF SONOFUSION PHENOMENON HOST MEDIA TO OCCUR NUCLEAR FUSION	116
DESIGN OF THE BUNCHER OF TRAVELLING-WAVE LINEAR ACCELERATOR	117
Experimental Study of Neutron Emission Characteristics in SBUPF1 Plasma Focus Device	118
Cavity Dimensions Calculation of a Medical Linear Electron Accelerator	119
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AN ACCURATE TIMING SINGLE CHANNEL ANALYZER	120
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A HIGH PRECISION TAC	121
"Research Note" DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A HIGH PRECISION TAC *	122
DESIGN OF ACTIVATION COUNTER CELL FOR COUNTING OF FAST NEUTRONS PRODUCED BY PLASMA FOCUS DEVICE	123
Design, calibration and testing of the NRCAM fast neutron spectrometry system	124
Neutron spectrum measurement in D+Be reaction	125

*NOTE that we should remove the following topics, which don’t make any sense for the paper they are tagged on:

show code

nice_table(abbasi_works %>% filter(id=="W4410246788"))

title	publication_date	id	author_id	topic_1	topic_2	topic_3	score_1	score_2	score_3	subfield_1	subfield_2	subfield_3	field_1	field_2	field_3	domain_1	domain_2	domain_3
Design of carbon ion stripper of a tandem accelerator for AMS radiocarbon dating	2025-05-09	W4410246788	A5037724110	Archaeology and ancient environmental studies	Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies	Astro and Planetary Science	1.00	0.99	0.99	Paleontology	Geography, Planning and Development	Astronomy and Astrophysics	Earth and Planetary Sciences	Social Sciences	Physics and Astronomy	Physical Sciences	Social Sciences	Physical Sciences

The below list of works by M. AliMohammadi was compiled by Luz Melo by a couple of approaches. The list yields 69 works.

Two are ‘red-flagged’ as works that are very likely to not be Masoud AliMohammadi.

show code

alimohammadi_works_long <- rbind(readRDS("~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box/Iran/works_MA_5111436477.rds")  %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5111436477") %>% unnest(topics),
                            readRDS("~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box/Iran/works_MA_5059661145.rds") %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5059661145") %>% unnest(topics)) %>%  
  rename(topic=display_name) %>% 
  rename_with(~ gsub("\\.?display_name", "", .x)) %>% 
  mutate(across(where(is.character),~ gsub("https://openalex.org/", "", .x, fixed = TRUE)))

alimohammadi_works_long = alimohammadi_works_long %>% #flag works that are not authored by Masou Alimohammadi
  mutate(red_flag = ifelse(str_detect(tolower(title), ('job involvement')), 1, #1 = RED: author is mehdi alimohammadi
                           ifelse(str_detect(tolower(title), ('mesquite grain ')), 2, 0)))#2 = RED: published in 2017 by faculty at Ilam University

alimohammadi_works_long = alimohammadi_works_long  %>% filter(red_flag <1) #remove flagged works

alimohammadi_works = alimohammadi_works_long%>% #pivot wider to create dataframe where one row = one work
  group_by(id) %>% 
  mutate(row_num = row_number()) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  pivot_wider(
    id_cols = c(title, publication_date, id, author_id),
    names_from = row_num,
    values_from = c(topic, score, subfield, field, domain),
    names_glue = "{.value}_{row_num}")
          
nice_table(alimohammadi_works_long  %>% distinct(title), title = "List of Masoud AliMohammadi works")

List of Masoud AliMohammadi works
title
Asymptotic behavior of ω in general quintom model
Solvable reaction-diffusion processes without exclusion
A Statistical Mechanical Deconvolution of the Differential Scanning Calorimetric Profiles of the Thermal Denaturation of Cyanomethemoglobin
On the phase structure of two-dimensional generalized Yang–Mills theories
Generalized 2D Yang-Mills theories: Large-N limit and Phase Structure
Generalized simplicial chiral models
Quantum chains with GL<i>q</i>(2) symmetry
SOME CORRELATORS OF <font>SU</font>(3)<sub>3</sub> WZW MODELS ON HIGHER-GENUS RIEMANN SURFACES
A class of solvable reaction–diffusion processes on a Cayley tree
Remarks on generalized scalar-tensor models of dark energy
Phase space of generalized Gauss-Bonnet dark energy
Class of solvable reaction-diffusion processes on Bethe lattice
Remarks on generalized Gauss-Bonnet dark energy
Quantum induced ω = −1 crossing of the quintessence and phantom models
Quantum attractors of generalized Gauss-Bonnet dark energy
KLEIN–GORDON AND DIRAC PARTICLES IN NONCONSTANT SCALAR-CURVATURE BACKGROUND
Non-Douglas–Kazakov phase transition of two-dimensional generalized Yang–Mills theories
The <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si1.gif" overflow="scroll"><mml:mi>ω</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mo>−</mml:mo><mml:mn>1</mml:mn></mml:math> crossing of the quintom model with slowly-varying potentials
Cosmological coincidence problem in interacting dark energy models
Transition from quintessence to the phantom phase in the quintom model
The w = -1 crossing of the quintom model with arbitrary potential
Phase transitions of large-N two-dimensional Yang–Mills and generalized Yang–Mills theories in the double scaling limit
Attractor solutions for general hessence dark energy
Large-N behavior of the Wilson loops of generalized two-dimensional Yang–Mills theories
Electrostatic self-energy and Bekenstein entropy bound in the massive Schwinger model
GENERALIZED INTEGRABLE MULTI-SPECIES REACTION-DIFFUSION PROCESSES
Multispecies extension of the solvable partially asymmetric reaction–diffusion processes
Solvable multi-species reaction-diffusion processes, including the extended drop-push model
Large-N limit of the two-dimensional Yang–Mills theory on surfaces with boundaries
Spin-0 and spin-1/2 particles in a constant scalar-curvature background
Spin 0 and spin 1/2 quantum relativistic particles in a constant gravitational field
Exactly solvable models through the generalized empty interval method, for multi-species interactions
Exactly solvable models through the empty interval method, for more-than-two-site interactions
<i>p</i>-species integrable reaction–diffusion processes
Exactly solvable models through the empty-interval method
Berry phase for spin-1/2 particles moving in a space-time with torsion
Massive Schwinger model and its confining aspects on curved space-time
CONFINEMENT AND SCREENING OF THE SCHWINGER MODEL ON THE POINCARÉ HALF PLANE
MORE ON GENERALIZED SIMPLICIAL CHIRAL MODELS
QUANTUM REFLECTION OF MASSLESS NEUTRINOS FROM A TORSION-INDUCED POTENTIAL
Class of integrable diffusion-reaction processes
Large- limit of the generalized 2DYang–Mills theory on cylinder
Confinement and screening of the Schwinger model on the Poincare half plane
Phase structure of the generalized two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on sphere
UNIQUENESS OF THE MINIMUM OF THE FREE ENERGY OF THE 2-D YANG–MILLS THEORY AT LARGE N
NEUTRINO OSCILLATION IN A SPACE–TIME WITH TORSION
A two--parametric family of asymmetric exclusion processes and its exact solution
Coulomb gas representation of quantum Hall effect on Riemann surfaces
DERIVATION OF QUANTUM THEORIES: SYMMETRIES AND THE EXACT SOLUTION OF THE DERIVED SYSTEM
Exact solution of a one-parameter family of asymmetric exclusion processes
A two--parametric family of asymmetric exclusion processes
Large-N limit of the generalized two-dimensional Yang-Mills theories
Greens functions of 2-dimensional Yang-Mills theories on nonorientable surfaces
Observables of the Generalized 2D Yang–Mills Theories on Arbitrary Surfaces: A Path Integral Approach
A Pseudo-Conformal Representation of the Virasoro Algebra
n-Point Functions of 2d Yang–Mills Theories on Riemann Surfaces
Laughlin states on the Poincaré half-plane and their quantum group symmetry
Quantum group symmetry of the quantum Hall effect on non-flat surfaces
Green functions of 2-dimensional Yang-Mills theories on nonorientable surfaces
2-D GRAVITY AS A LIMIT OF THE SL(2, ${\mathbb R}$) BLACK HOLE
GAUGING SL(2, R) AND SL(2, R)×U(1) BY THEIR NILPOTENT SUBGROUPS
SU(N) 1 fusion rule and modular transformation matrix by orthogonal polynomials
Vertex Operators of SL(2,R) Black Hole and 2-d gravity
LEVEL-ONE <font>SU</font>(N) WZNW MODELS ON HIGHER-GENUS RIEMANN SURFACES
<font>SU</font>(N)<sub>1</sub> CORRELATION FUNCTIONS ON HIGHER-GENUS RIEMANN SURFACES
Nilpotent Gauging of SL(2,R)$WZNW$ models, and Liouville Field

Note that OpenAlex indexes a preprint and a publication of the same paper (“Large-N limit of the generalized two-dimensional Yang-Mills theories”) as two different works. Interestingly, the algorithm assigns slightly different topics to the two works, even though they contain the exact same abstract, authors and references. It may be that they are referenced by different sets of papers, which shapes the OpenAlex algorithm’s decisions.

Ardeshir Hosseinpour’s academic footprint was the most difficult to ascertain. We were only able to identify a total of 11 works associated to him, across two author profiles:

a5048006655 (4 works)
a5028383055 (7 works)

show code

hosseinpour_works_long <- rbind(readRDS("~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box/Iran/works_AH_5028.rds")  %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5111436477") %>% unnest(topics),
                            readRDS("~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box/Iran/works_AH_5048.rds") %>% select(id, title, publication_date, topics) %>% mutate(topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score,subfield.display_name, field.display_name, domain.display_name)), author_id="A5059661145") %>% unnest(topics)) %>%  
  rename(topic=display_name) %>% 
  rename_with(~ gsub("\\.?display_name", "", .x)) %>% 
  mutate(across(where(is.character),~ gsub("https://openalex.org/", "", .x, fixed = TRUE)))

hosseinpour_works = hosseinpour_works_long%>% #pivot wider to create dataframe where one row = one work
  group_by(id) %>% 
  mutate(row_num = row_number()) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  pivot_wider(
    id_cols = c(title, publication_date, id, author_id),
    names_from = row_num,
    values_from = c(topic, score, subfield, field, domain),
    names_glue = "{.value}_{row_num}")
          
nice_table(hosseinpour_works_long  %>% distinct(title), title = "List of Ardeshir Hosseinpour works")

List of Ardeshir Hosseinpour works
title
Investigation of the microwave absorptive behavior of doped barium ferrites
Magnetic characteristics of Mn–Co–Ti substituted barium ferrite synthesized by sol–gel processing
Influence of sol compositions on formation of crack free barium ferrite thick film synthesised by sol–gel processing
Influence of matching thickness on the absorption properties of doped barium ferrites at microwave frequencies
Electromagnetic properties and microwave absorbing characteristics of doped barium hexaferrite
THE RELATION BETWEEN MAGNETIC FORCE AND CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF THE BARIUM FERRITE
PIECEWISE LINEAR APPROXIMATION OF MID-FLUX LINE IN FERRITE CORES
Simulation of DC-hopping conduction in spinel ferrites using free electron gas model
Influnce of Stoichiometry and Molar Ratio of Barium Ferrite Thin Film Synthesized by Sol-gel on Alumina Substrate
Anisotropy Variation with Order-Disorder Transition in Magnetite
Investigation of Magnetic Force for Barium and Strontium Ferrites

show code

nice_table(data.frame("topic" = setdiff(unique(majid_works_long$topic), unique(abbasi_works_long$topic))), title="M. Shahriari Exclusive Topics", note = "n = 18")
nice_table(data.frame("topic" = setdiff(unique(abbasi_works_long$topic), unique(majid_works_long$topic))), title="F. Abbasi Davani Exclusive Topics", note = "n = 84")
nice_table(data.frame("topic" = intersect(unique(abbasi_works_long$topic), unique(majid_works_long$topic))), title="Shared Topics i.e. Core nuclear topics at Shahid Beheshti University", note = "n = 25")
nice_table(data.frame("topic" = unique(alimohammadi_works_long$topic)), title="M. AliMohammadi Topics", note = "n = 46")
nice_table(data.frame("topic" = unique(hosseinpour_works_long$topic)), title="A. Hosseinpour Topics", note = "n = 9")

M. Shahriari Exclusive Topics
topic
Vibration and Dynamic Analysis
Fluid Dynamics and Vibration Analysis
Water Systems and Optimization
Boron Compounds in Chemistry
Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
Ocular Oncology and Treatments
Ocular and Laser Science Research
Glaucoma and retinal disorders
Structural Health Monitoring Techniques
MRI in cancer diagnosis
Cerebrovascular and Carotid Artery Diseases
Air Quality and Health Impacts
Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
Vehicle emissions and performance
Radiation Shielding Materials Analysis
Geophysical Methods and Applications
Advanced Optical Sensing Technologies
AI in cancer detection
Note. n = 18

F. Abbasi Davani Exclusive Topics
topic
Particle accelerators and beam dynamics
Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Advances
Lung Cancer Research Studies
Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics
Plasma Diagnostics and Applications
Magnetic Field Sensors Techniques
Radioactivity and Radon Measurements
Radioactive contamination and transfer
Particle Detector Development and Performance
Engineering Applied Research
Industrial Automation and Control Systems
Advanced Control Systems Design
Experimental Learning in Engineering
Superconducting Materials and Applications
X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis
Laser-induced spectroscopy and plasma
Cutaneous lymphoproliferative disorders research
Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Studies
Nail Diseases and Treatments
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
Astro and Planetary Science
Hydrogen Storage and Materials
Advanced NMR Techniques and Applications
Magnetic confinement fusion research
Fusion materials and technologies
Advanced Materials Characterization Techniques
Plasma Applications and Diagnostics
Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity
Electrohydrodynamics and Fluid Dynamics
Graphene research and applications
Quantum optics and atomic interactions
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
Control Systems and Identification
Plasma and Flow Control in Aerodynamics
Hemostasis and retained surgical items
Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research
Cutaneous Melanoma Detection and Management
Fault Detection and Control Systems
Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Design
Estrogen and related hormone effects
Electrostatic Discharge in Electronics
Fire Detection and Safety Systems
Neutrino Physics Research
Chemical Thermodynamics and Molecular Structure
Photonic and Optical Devices
Laser Design and Applications
Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery
Characterization and Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles
Radioactive element chemistry and processing
Advanced Adaptive Filtering Techniques
Calibration and Measurement Techniques
Power System Optimization and Stability
Acoustic Wave Resonator Technologies
Spectroscopy and Chemometric Analyses
Botanical Research and Applications
Chemical and Physical Properties of Materials
Semiconductor materials and devices
Electron Spin Resonance Studies
Welding Techniques and Residual Stresses
Rocket and propulsion systems research
Mechanical Engineering and Vibrations Research
Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems
Advancements in Photolithography Techniques
Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques
Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques
Synthesis and Biological Evaluation
Peptidase Inhibition and Analysis
Radiation Effects in Electronics
Medical Imaging and Pathology Studies
Terahertz technology and applications
Microwave Engineering and Waveguides
Wireless Power Transfer Systems
Fusion and Plasma Physics Studies
Cold Fusion and Nuclear Reactions
Nuclear Issues and Defense
Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques
Advanced Power Generation Technologies
Environmental and Industrial Safety
Industrial Engineering and Technologies
Ultrasound and Cavitation Phenomena
Nuclear Engineering Thermal-Hydraulics
Nuclear physics research studies
Note. n = 84

Shared Topics i.e. Core nuclear topics at Shahid Beheshti University
topic
Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron Lasers
Gyrotron and Vacuum Electronics Research
Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry and Applications
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
Nuclear Physics and Applications
Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies
Radiation Effects and Dosimetry
Graphite, nuclear technology, radiation studies
Pulsed Power Technology Applications
Nuclear reactor physics and engineering
Nuclear Materials and Properties
Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
Nuclear and radioactivity studies
Medical Imaging Techniques and Applications
Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques
Thermal and Kinetic Analysis
Lanthanide and Transition Metal Complexes
Radiation Dose and Imaging
Ion-surface interactions and analysis
Advanced X-ray and CT Imaging
Digital Radiography and Breast Imaging
Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research
Metal and Thin Film Mechanics
Advancements in PLL and VCO Technologies
Advanced Electrical Measurement Techniques
Note. n = 25

M. AliMohammadi Topics
topic
Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation
Stochastic processes and statistical mechanics
Random Matrices and Applications
Theoretical and Computational Physics
Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies
Thermodynamic properties of mixtures
Protein Structure and Dynamics
Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
Algebraic structures and combinatorial models
Advanced Algebra and Geometry
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Advanced Differential Geometry Research
Complex Network Analysis Techniques
Relativity and Gravitational Theory
Neutrino Physics Research
Quantum Mechanics and Non-Hermitian Physics
High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect
Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
Catalysis and Oxidation Reactions
Advanced Control Systems Optimization
Diffusion and Search Dynamics
Quantum chaos and dynamical systems
Advanced Mathematical Modeling in Engineering
Markov Chains and Monte Carlo Methods
Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence
Topological Materials and Phenomena
Advanced NMR Techniques and Applications
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
Quantum Mechanics and Applications
Quantum many-body systems
advanced mathematical theories
Nonlinear Waves and Solitons
Advanced Topics in Algebra
Quantum Information and Cryptography
Graphene research and applications
Algebraic and Geometric Analysis
Nonlinear Photonic Systems
Homotopy and Cohomology in Algebraic Topology
Algebraic Geometry and Number Theory
Note. n = 46

A. Hosseinpour Topics
topic
Magnetic Properties and Synthesis of Ferrites
Electromagnetic wave absorption materials
Multiferroics and related materials
Magneto-Optical Properties and Applications
Magnetic Properties and Applications
Power Line Inspection Robots
Microwave Dielectric Ceramics Synthesis
Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
Magnetic Properties of Alloys
Note. n = 9

In the aftermath of the Twelve-day War, Israel’s ambassador to France asserted that the assassinations of 14 nuclear physicists would set Iran’s nuclear program back “by quite a number of years.”¹ In this project, we empirically evaluate the plausibility of this claim.

We use longitudinal publication data to operationalize nuclear technological development in terms of academic output in relevant nuclear physics fields.

Shahid Beheshti University

Majid Shahriari; Professor at Shahid Beheshti University and nuclear engineer specializing in neutron transport; assassinated 11/29/2010

Freyedoon Abbasi Davani; Professor at Shahid Behehshti University and leading expert in nuclear engineering; Former Head of Atomic Energy Organization; attempted assassination on 11/29/2010; assassinated in the Twelve Day War, 06/25/2025

Our analysis begins at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, which the European Union has designated as an entity controlled by Iran’s Ministry of Defense and “carrying out scientific research on nuclear weapons.”² Israel has also targeted two of the university’s prominent nuclear scientists: F. Abbasi Davani, assassinated during the Twelve Day War in 2025, and M. Shahriari, assassinated by Mossad in 2010. We therefore use research productivity at Shahid Beheshti University as a proxy to evaluate the effects of campaigns against Iran’s nuclear program.

Specifically, we identified all publications authored by Shahriari and Abbasi Davani and classified the nuclear physics subfields in which they worked as “core nuclear physics areas”. We then compared publication output in these core areas to all other fields at Shahid Beheshti University from 2000 through May 2025, reasoning that non-core areas should remain unaffected by the targeted assassinations of nuclear physicists.

show code

# #load and clean works from shahid beheshti university. this includes: 1) removing datasets, erratums, and retractions; 2) selecting only relevant necessary columns; 3) removing papers that have no topics assigned, 4) unpacking the nested topics column and turning it into a long format, 5) labelling the works as from SBU 
# shahid_beheshti_university_long = readRDS('shahidBeheshtiUniversity_allWorks.rds') %>%
#   filter(type != "dataset" & type != "erratum" & type != "retraction" ) %>%
#   select(id, title, publication_date, topics, type) %>%
#   filter(map_lgl(topics, ~ nrow(.x) > 0)) %>%
#   mutate(topics = map(topics, ~filter(.x, type=='topic')),
#          topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score))) %>%
#   unnest(topics) %>%
#   rename(topic=display_name) %>%
#   mutate(across(where(is.character),~ gsub("https://openalex.org/", "", .x, fixed = TRUE)),
#          institution = 'Shahid Beheshti University')
# 
# #load and clean works from shahid beheshti university of medical sciences. Same steps as above except they get labelled as from Shahid Beheshti Medical 
# shahid_beheshti_medical_long = readRDS('shahidBeheshtiMedical_allWorks.rds') %>%
#   filter(type != "dataset" & type != "erratum" & type != "retraction" ) %>%
#   select(id, title, publication_date, topics, type) %>%
#   filter(map_lgl(topics, ~ nrow(.x) > 0)) %>%
#   mutate(topics = map(topics, ~filter(.x, type=='topic')),
#          topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score))) %>%
#   unnest(topics) %>%
#   rename(topic=display_name) %>%
#   mutate(across(where(is.character),~ gsub("https://openalex.org/", "", .x, fixed = TRUE)),
#          institution = "Shahid Beheshti Medical")
# 
# #combine works from SBU and SBU medical 
# shahid_beheshti_university_combined_long = rbind(shahid_beheshti_university_long, shahid_beheshti_medical_long)
# 
# #save cleaned, combined long dataframe as RDS so that we only have to do above steps once
# saveRDS(shahid_beheshti_university_combined_long, 'shahid_beheshti_university_cleanedLONG.rds')

shahid_beheshti_university_combined_long = readRDS('shahid_beheshti_university_cleanedLONG.rds')

#make a list of topics that are only listed on the works that M. Shahriari authored
shahriari_exclusive_topics = data.frame("topic" = setdiff(unique(majid_works_long$topic), unique(abbasi_works_long$topic)))

#make a list of topics that are only listed on the works that F. Abbasi Davani authored
abbasi_exclusive_topics = data.frame("topic" = setdiff(unique(abbasi_works_long$topic), unique(majid_works_long$topic)))

#make a list of topics that are listed at the intersection of Abbasi Davani and Shahriari works
abbasi_shahriari_intersect_topics = data.frame("topic" = intersect(unique(abbasi_works_long$topic), unique(majid_works_long$topic)))

#clean and pivot the SBU works dataframe wide. this includes 1) turning the "type" of publication from a string into a factor, 2) pivoting wider to make one row per work, with the three topics pivoted wide rather than long, 3) floor the date to the first of the month to allow for analysis by monthly rate, 4) create varibles to indicate whether a paper should be classified in 
shahid_beheshti_university_works = shahid_beheshti_university_combined_long %>% 
  mutate(type = as.factor(type), institution = as.factor(institution)) %>% 
  group_by(id) %>% 
  mutate(row_num = row_number()) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  pivot_wider(
    id_cols = c(title, publication_date, id, type, institution),
    names_from = row_num,
    values_from = topic,
    names_glue = "{.value}_{row_num}") %>% 
  mutate(publication_month = floor_date(publication_date, "month")) %>% 
  rowwise() %>% 
  mutate(shahriari_exclusive = if_else(any(c(topic_1, topic_2, topic_3) %in% shahriari_exclusive_topics$topic),1, 0),
         abbasi_exclusive = if_else(any(c(topic_1, topic_2, topic_3) %in% abbasi_exclusive_topics$topic),1, 0),
         abbasi_shahriari_intersect = factor(if_else(any(c(topic_1, topic_2, topic_3) %in% abbasi_shahriari_intersect_topics$topic),'Core nuclear physics areas', 'All other areas'))) %>% 
  mutate(topic_condition = factor(ifelse(shahriari_exclusive ==1, 'M. Shahriari exclusive',
                                    ifelse(abbasi_exclusive == 1, 'F. Abbasi Davani exclusive',
                                          ifelse(abbasi_shahriari_intersect =='Core nuclear physics areas', 'Core nuclear physics areas', 'All other areas')))))

monthly_publication_rate = shahid_beheshti_university_works %>% 
  filter(institution=='Shahid Beheshti University') %>% 
  group_by(abbasi_shahriari_intersect, publication_month) %>% 
  count %>% 
  filter(publication_month > '2000-01-01' & publication_month < '2025-06-01') 

ggplot(transform(monthly_publication_rate, abbasi_shahriari_intersect = factor(abbasi_shahriari_intersect, levels = c('Core nuclear physics areas', 'All other areas'))) ,aes(x = publication_month, y = n, color = abbasi_shahriari_intersect)) +
  geom_smooth(method = "loess", span = 0.3, se = FALSE, linewidth = 1.25) +
  theme_classic()+
  facet_grid(rows=vars(abbasi_shahriari_intersect), scales='free') +
  theme(
    strip.background = element_rect(color="white", linewidth = 0),
    legend.position = 'none',
    axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 60, hjust = 1))+
  labs(title="Publication Rate at Shahid Beheshti University", y = 'Monthly Publication Count', x = '')+
  scale_x_date(date_breaks = "2 year", date_labels = "%Y") +
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2010-06-09')), linetype='dashed') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2010-02-19')), y = 195, label = "Global sanctions", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2010-11-29')), linetype='solid', color='#F97068') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2011-03-12')), y = 185, label = "M. Shahriari assassinated", angle=90, color='#F97068', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2015-07-14')), linetype='dashed', color='black') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2015-10-14')), y = 76, label = "JCPOA - sanctions lifted", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2020-07-01')), linetype='dashed', color='black') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2020-09-14')), y = 95, label = "Natanz explosion", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  scale_color_manual(values=c('#57C4E5','#212738'))

We do not find compelling evidence to suggest that the assassination of M. Shahriari - a nuclear physicist that the Mossad identified as a key leader of Iran’s nuclear program - slowed progress. It seems that global sanctions, too, did little to slow Iran’s nuclear progress - at least when measured in academic output at Shahid Beheshti. Specifically, we observe a continuing upward trend in publications in nuclear physics areas from Shahid Beheshti from the year of Shahriari’s assassination - 2010 - up until a plateau emerges around 2015.

In another approach, we identified a sister university to offer a second point of comparison. Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences has operated as a distinct entity from Shahid Beheshti University since their split in [the 1980s]. The universities are comparable in output and size, and are both located in Tehran. We compared academic production rates within nuclear core physics areas at Shahid Beheshti Medical and Shahid Beheshti University.

show code

monthly_pub_SBUMvSBU = shahid_beheshti_university_works %>% 
  group_by(abbasi_shahriari_intersect, publication_month, institution) %>% 
  count %>% 
  filter(publication_month > '2000-01-01' & publication_month < '2025-06-01') 

ggplot(subset(monthly_pub_SBUMvSBU, abbasi_shahriari_intersect =='Core nuclear physics areas'), aes(x = publication_month, y = n, color = institution)) +
  geom_smooth(method = "loess", span = 0.3, se = FALSE, linewidth = 1.25) +
  theme_classic()+
  theme(
    strip.background = element_rect(color="white", linewidth = 0),
    legend.position = 'bottom',
    legend.title = element_blank(),
    axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 60, hjust = 1))+
  labs(title="Publication Rate in Core Nuclear Physics areas", y = 'Monthly Publication Count', x = '')+
  scale_x_date(date_breaks = "2 year", date_labels = "%Y") +
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2010-06-09')), linetype='dashed') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2010-02-19')), y = 6, label = "Global sanctions", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2010-11-29')), linetype='solid', color='#F97068') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2011-03-12')), y = 6, label = "M. Shahriari assassinated", angle=90, color='#F97068', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2015-07-14')), linetype='dashed', color='black') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2015-10-14')), y = 5, label = "JCPOA - sanctions lifted", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
   geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2020-07-01')), linetype='dashed', color='black') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2020-09-14')), y = 2, label = "Natanz explosion", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  scale_color_manual(values=c('#8AEA92','#57C4E5'))

Here, too, do not find evidence to suggest that nuclear physics research at Shahid Behehsti University was affected or slowed by targeted campaigns when compared to the same academic areas at a sister institution in Tehran. Nuclear physics output at Shahid Beheshti University shows no slowdown until 2015, when production plateaus. By contrast, Shahid Beheshti Medical University maintains steady growth in nuclear physics research until 2019, after which output declines sharply and continues to fall through the present.

The above plot represents the estimated average publications per month, per academic area in the era before the assassination of M. Shahriari and after. In this direct comparison, too, we find little evidence that the assassination tempered research progress in nuclear physics at Shahid Beheshti. Instead, we observe growth in nuclear areas and other areas, at both Shahid Beheshti University and Shahid Beheshti Medical. Notably, in this direct comparison, we observe more pronounced growth in physics fields at Shahid Beheshti than in other non-targeted areas after the assassination.

University of Tehran

Masoud AliMohammadi; Professor at University of Tehran and quantum field theorist; assassinated 01/12/2010

The University of Tehran is Iran’s leading and most prolific academic institution, which affords a rich dataset for observation and comparison. In contrast to Shahid Beheshti University, it has not been regularly identified as a central actor in Iran’s nuclear program. The institution is still likely subject to the regime’s directives – as are all academic entities – it appears less directly tied to the program and has no known explicit association with the Revolutionary Guards.

In the beginning of 2010, amid intensified efforts to disrupt Iran’s nuclear progress, Masoud AliMohammadi - a prominent quantum physicist at the University of Tehran – was assassinated. His precise role in the nuclear program remains uncertain, but his death was widely viewed as par of a broader campaign targeting Iranian scientists with the goal of dismantling the nuclear program. The present analysis examines the impact of his assassination on physics research at the University of Tehran, where he was an active researcher at the time of his death.

show code

# #load and clean works from university of tehran. this includes: 1) removing datasets, erratums, and retractions; 2) selecting only relevant necessary columns; 3) removing papers that have no topics assigned, 4) unpacking the nested topics column and turning it into a long format, 5) labelling the works as from University of Tehran
# university_of_tehran_long = readRDS('universityOfTehran_allWorks.rds') %>%
#   filter(type != "dataset" & type != "erratum" & type != "retraction" ) %>%
#   select(id, title, publication_date, topics, type) %>%
#   filter(map_lgl(topics, ~ nrow(.x) > 0)) %>%
#   mutate(topics = map(topics, ~filter(.x, type=='topic')),
#          topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score))) %>%
#   unnest(topics) %>%
#   rename(topic=display_name) %>%
#   mutate(across(where(is.character),~ gsub("https://openalex.org/", "", .x, fixed = TRUE)),
#          institution = 'University of Tehran')
# 
# #save cleaned, combined long dataframe as RDS so that we only have to do above steps once
# saveRDS(university_of_tehran_long, 'university_of_Tehran_cleanedLONG.rds')

university_of_tehran_long = readRDS('university_of_Tehran_cleanedLONG.rds')

#make a list of topics that are only listed on the works that M. AliMohammadi authored
alimohammadi_topics = data.frame("topic" = unique(alimohammadi_works_long$topic))

#clean and pivot the UTehran works dataframe wide. this includes 1) turning the "type" of publication from a string into a factor, 2) pivoting wider to make one row per work, with the three topics pivoted wide rather than long, 3) floor the date to the first of the month to allow for analysis by monthly rate, 4) create variable to indicate whether a paper should be classified as physics or not
university_of_tehran_works = university_of_tehran_long %>% 
  mutate(type = as.factor(type)) %>% 
  group_by(id) %>% 
  mutate(row_num = row_number()) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  pivot_wider(
    id_cols = c(title, publication_date, id, type),
    names_from = row_num,
    values_from = topic,
    names_glue = "{.value}_{row_num}") %>% 
  mutate(publication_month = floor_date(publication_date, "month")) %>% 
  rowwise() %>% 
  mutate(topic_condition = if_else(any(c(topic_1, topic_2, topic_3) %in% alimohammadi_topics$topic),'Quantum physics areas', 'All other areas')) 

monthly_publication_rate_Tehran = university_of_tehran_works %>% 
  group_by(topic_condition, publication_month) %>% 
  count %>% 
  filter(publication_month > '2000-01-01' & publication_month < '2025-06-01') 

ggplot(transform(monthly_publication_rate_Tehran, topic_condition = factor(topic_condition, levels = c('Quantum physics areas', 'All other areas'))) ,aes(x = publication_month, y = n, color = topic_condition)) +
  geom_smooth(method = "loess", span = 0.3, se = FALSE, linewidth = 1.25) +
  theme_classic()+
  facet_grid(rows=vars(topic_condition), scales='free') +
  theme(
    strip.background = element_rect(color="white", linewidth = 0),
    legend.position = 'none',
    axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 60, hjust = 1))+
  labs(title="Publication Rate at University of Tehran", y = 'Monthly Publication Count', x = '')+
  scale_x_date(date_breaks = "2 year", date_labels = "%Y") +
  
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2010-06-09')), linetype='dashed') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2010-08-19')), y = 155, label = "Global sanctions", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2010-01-12')), linetype='solid', color='#F97068') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2009-10-01')), y = 475, label = "M. AliMohammadi assassinated", angle=90, color='#F97068', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2015-07-14')), linetype='dashed', color='black') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2015-10-14')), y = 200, label = "JCPOA - sanctions lifted", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2020-07-01')), linetype='dashed', color='black') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2020-09-14')), y = 125, label = "Natanz explosion", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  
  scale_color_manual(values=c('#57C4E5','#212738'))

At the University of Tehran, we observe a general upward trend in production rate in the targeted physics areas - i.e. those areas relevant to the assassinated quantum physicist M. AliMohammadi - with some periods of slower growth between 2007 and 2011. This is compared to an almost linear increase in publication rate among all other fields at the University of Tehran, until a sharp downward trend begins for both the targeted and non-targeted fields around 2020.

The above plot compares the estimated monthly publication rate in targeted and non-targeted physics areas at the University of Tehran before and after the assassination of M. AliMohammadi in 2010. Both the targeted physics areas and the non-targeted areas (i.e. all other areas of academic work at the University of Tehran) experience growth that extends from before to after the assassination. There is no clear indication that the targeted physics areas at the University of Tehran experienced any disruption that differs from the experience of non-targeted areas at the same institution.

Shiraz University

Ardeshir Hosseinpour; Professor at Shiraz University and authority on electromagnetism; assassinated 01/15/2007

show code

# #load and clean works from university of shiraz this includes: 1) removing datasets, erratums, and retractions; 2) selecting only relevant necessary columns; 3) removing papers that have no topics assigned, 4) unpacking the nested topics column and turning it into a long format
# shiraz_university_long = readRDS('shirazUniversity_allWorks.rds') %>%
#   filter(type != "dataset" & type != "erratum" & type != "retraction" ) %>%
#   select(id, title, publication_date, topics, type) %>%
#   filter(map_lgl(topics, ~ nrow(.x) > 0)) %>%
#   mutate(topics = map(topics, ~filter(.x, type=='topic')),
#          topics = map(topics, ~ select(.x, display_name, score))) %>%
#   unnest(topics) %>%
#   rename(topic=display_name) %>%
#   mutate(across(where(is.character),~ gsub("https://openalex.org/", "", .x, fixed = TRUE)),
#          institution = 'Shiraz University')
# 
# #save cleaned, combined long dataframe as RDS so that we only have to do above steps once
# saveRDS(shiraz_university_long, 'shiraz_university_cleanedLONG.rds')

shiraz_university_long = readRDS('shiraz_university_cleanedLONG.rds')

#make a list of topics that are only listed on the works that A. Hosseinpour authored
hosseinpour_topics = data.frame("topic" = unique(hosseinpour_works_long$topic))

#clean and pivot the Shiraz University works dataframe wide. this includes 1) turning the "type" of publication from a string into a factor, 2) pivoting wider to make one row per work, with the three topics pivoted wide rather than long, 3) floor the date to the first of the month to allow for analysis by monthly rate, 4) create variable to indicate whether a paper should be classified as physics or not
shiraz_university_works = shiraz_university_long %>% 
  mutate(type = as.factor(type)) %>% 
  group_by(id) %>% 
  mutate(row_num = row_number()) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  pivot_wider(
    id_cols = c(title, publication_date, id, type),
    names_from = row_num,
    values_from = topic,
    names_glue = "{.value}_{row_num}") %>% 
  mutate(publication_month = floor_date(publication_date, "month")) %>% 
  rowwise() %>% 
  mutate(topic_condition = if_else(any(c(topic_1, topic_2, topic_3) %in% hosseinpour_topics$topic),'Electromagnetism physics areas', 'All other areas')) 

monthly_publication_rate_Shiraz = shiraz_university_works %>% 
  group_by(topic_condition, publication_month) %>% 
  count %>% 
  filter(publication_month > '2000-01-01' & publication_month < '2025-06-01') 

ggplot(transform(monthly_publication_rate_Shiraz, topic_condition = factor(topic_condition, levels = c('Electromagnetism physics areas', 'All other areas'))) ,aes(x = publication_month, y = n, color = topic_condition)) +
  geom_smooth(method = "loess", span = 0.2, se = FALSE, linewidth = 1.25) +
  theme_classic()+
  facet_grid(rows=vars(topic_condition), scales='free') +
  theme(
    strip.background = element_rect(color="white", linewidth = 0),
    legend.position = 'none',
    axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 60, hjust = 1))+
  labs(title="Publication Rate at Shiraz University", y = 'Monthly Publication Count', x = '')+
  scale_x_date(date_breaks = "2 year", date_labels = "%Y") +
  
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2010-06-09')), linetype='dashed') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2010-08-19')), y = 35, label = "Global sanctions", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2007-01-15')), linetype='solid', color='#F97068') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2006-10-01')), y = 150, label = "A. Hosseinpour assassinated", angle=90, color='#F97068', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2015-07-14')), linetype='dashed', color='black') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2015-10-14')), y = 75, label = "JCPOA - sanctions lifted", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  
  geom_vline(xintercept=as.numeric(as.Date('2020-07-01')), linetype='dashed', color='black') +
  geom_text(x = as.numeric(as.Date('2020-09-14')), y = 125, label = "Natanz explosion", angle=90, color='black', check_overlap = TRUE, size=2.5)+
  
  scale_color_manual(values=c('#57C4E5','#212738'))

Accordingly, in four different comparisons of three assassinations of prominent scientists at three institutions, we find no reason to expect that assassinations on nuclear scientists effectively slowed research relevant to Iran’s nuclear program. There are a number of reasons why this can be the case.

Measurement and operationalization

Challenges to our ability to capture the effect that we are looking for:

Publication lag times make it difficult to know where and when to look for an effect.
We chose to measure paper production in these comparisons. It could be the case that the right place to look for an effect is in publication quality rather than quantity. Did physics switch from cutting-edge quality work to low level ‘salami slicing’ after assassinations? We can measure production quality, in theory, using citation counts of published works, where highly cited works are considered superior in quality to uncited works.

Substantive and Conceptual Explanations

In addition, there are several reasons why the effect may not materialize.

It may be the case that other productive nuclear physicists can readily step in and absorb the assassinated physicist’s workflow. In this case, the removal of one point of operational expertise - even when the expertise is substantially beyond the surrounding collaborators’ - does little to slow nuclear development when there is a network of nuclear scientists that are willing to perform the same work.
Assassinations serve to marytr-ize the assassinated. In the case of M. Shahriari, monuments have been dedicated to his name to honor his life and death. Accordingly, it may be the case that targeting scientists can increase motivation and productivity in that scientist’s working areas.

Other policy decisions and events may change the shape of nuclear progress more substantially than individual assassinations
Networks at other universities may be capable and willing to absorb the nuclear progress after a disruption. We can investigate whether this is the case by analyzing changes in network structures after disruption events
Rather than ceasing their work, physicists might engage in ‘dog whistling’ more after threatening disruptions like assassinations or after events such as JCPOA and the release of sanctions. We can detect this particular type of change by analyzing linguistic trends and network changes amongst topic areas within physics at targeted and non-targeted institutions.

Future directions

Future directions within Iranian publication data

In our pilot study and our planned study 1, we have identified all works published from Iranian institutions and use the data to examine the observable effects of Israel’s campaigns to cripple Iran’s nuclear program. In future directions, we can:

investigate the effects of global sanctions and other large-scale events (e.g. Stuxnet and the Natanz explosion of 2021) on scientific output, comparing the effect sizes on “targeted” fields such as nuclear physics to non-targeted fields.
Leverage the ‘natural experiment’ that emerges from the pair of failed and successful assassination attempts on F. Abbasi Davani and M. Shahriari to isolate the effects of threat to the field of nuclear scientists (in the case of an attempted but failed assassination) and removal of operational expertise (in the case of the assassination of M. Shahriari) on scientific progress in order to better understand the mechanism by which assassinations on scientists
Map collaborator networks within nuclear physics to offer another approach to examining the effects of assassinations on fields. What happens to collaborator networks when a central node is eliminated? Do other scientists absorb the missing node and continue with the same trajectory of works? Or do the networks become fractured, and the trajectory of the work unrecoverable?
Brain drain comparison
Do we see more variance in topics after assassinations or other events? Closer or further away from the nuclear core?
Chinese researchers are consistently under-cited by everyone in the world except by iranian researchers. Why?

Beyond Iran

Integrating OpenAlex pub data with other data sources can open up potential lines of pursuit:

We can pair data on Chinese funding of academic pursuits with OpenAlex publication data to map and track the paths between increases in funding towards topics/research projects on precursors —> scientific breakthrough on a downstream product of the precursors
If we can identify a good source of patent data, we can expand our dataset and our definition of “research development and progress” from peer-reviewed publications to include patents. This allows us to cover a range of metrics of scientific progress from the academic and theoretical to the applications that industry develops.
Moreover, we can potentially map and track research and development from academic teams developing new procedures in the lab (e.g. synthesizing precursors for narcotics) to application and manufacturing in the industry (e.g. the same team, or collaborators with that academic research team, working at a new company that manufactures pharma products)

Identifying and detecting ‘dog-whistles’ for illicit or weapons development in academic research

Using OpenAlex data on global publications, we have mapped the public-facing research outputs of Iranian nuclear physicists. Much of their work describes their nuclear advancements in terms of dual-use applications, such as in x-ray imaging and medical radiation therapies. This pattern suggests that scientists engaged in research with weapons or illicit applications may deliberately frame their findings in terms of innocuous or socially beneficial technologies. We can analyze the citation networks surrounding these publications to develop a methodology to determine when and how scientists are employing such ‘dog-whistles’ in their public-facing peer-reviewed works to obscure the intentions of their work.

Detecting language convergence to predict scientific breakthroughs

Evidence from computational social science fields demonstrates that language convergence – such as the rapid alignment on specific terms or hashtags – is an early signal of social movement mobilization and/or critical moments of social instability ^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}. We propose applying this principle to the scientific domain. Can convergence in terminology and keyword use similarly predict scientific breakthroughs? Leveraging the OpenAlex database, we will track linguistic trends across global publications and apply computational measures of linguistic alignment to uncover when and where new vocabularies crystallize around emerging technologies. Our aim is to develop a methodology for detecting emerging linguistic patterns in scientific fields (e.g. Quantum computing in Chinese academic labs) with the goal of forecasting scientific breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies.

Building cartel networks and measuring fracturing before/after decapitation

We can translate our methods on the Iran assassination project to investigate effects of decapitation on other networks outside of publication data

In the early morning of November 29 2010, Israel’s Mossad attempted to assassinate two nuclear physicists: Majid Shahriari and Freyedoon Abbasi Davani. Both scientists worked at Shahid Beheshti, and both were deemed by Israel to be prominent enough to pose a threat.

Only one of the attempted assassinations succeeded. We leverage this morbid coincidence as a natural experiment to estimate the effect of assassination on nuclear capabilities development. The “random assignment” that played out in this case serves to isolate the effects of removing knowledge from a field (i.e. assassinating M. Shahriari) vs terrorizing a field (i.e. attempting to assassinate F. Abbasi Davani) on scientific output in the relevant fields.

To do so, we observe the scientific output in each scientist’s respective fields at Shahid Beheshti in the X [5?] years before and after the attempted assassination on 29 Nov 2010. We then compare those trends to the trends of all other fields at Shahid Beheshti. Note that the two scientists will have several overlapping fields, so we will observe the following trends:

M. Shahriari exclusive fields
F. Abbasi Davani exclusive fields
Shared fields
All other fields at Shahid Beheshti that neither Shahriari nor Abbasi Davani were involved in

Method

We use the OpenAlex database of published works to identify all works published at Shahid Beheshti University.

We opted to use paper “topics” to identify the scientists’ fields that they were active in. Paper “topics” are assigned by OpenAlex’s algorithm, which takes into account the content of the paper’s abstract and the citation and author network (I think - need to verify). We decided that the ‘topic’ level provided an optimal balance of precision and breadth — we considered “subfields” and above as too general to provide an accurate categorization tool for analysis. That is, we expected that papers categorized under the same subfields as Shahriari’s or Abbasi Davani’s work would include too many specializations would not be realistically affected by our scientist of interest, while the ‘topics’ classifier allows us to more precisely zero in on specializations that are actually related to our scientists’ work.