Journal of Saffron Research at the University of Birjand

The Journal of Saffron Research at the University of Birjand is a specialist scholarly journal devoted to saffron. An early university announcement described it as the first saffron research periodical in Iran and possibly the world. The title now has confirmed print and online ISSNs, an ongoing publication record and an open-access listing.

The original article on this site captured the project before or close to publication. It also mixed the journal announcement with a wider snapshot of the university’s research budget, publications, contracts, campuses, students and faculty. Those figures are historical and should not be read as the university’s current totals.

From an announced magazine to an established journal

A Birjand Journalists’ Club report quoted the university’s research vice president or research deputy saying that five scientific-specialist journals were being published or were close to publication. The Saffron Research Group at the University of Birjand was preparing what the translation called the “Saffron Research Journal,” expected in the near future.

“First Saffron Magazine in Iran” was the old page title, but journal is more accurate than magazine. This is an academic periodical that publishes research, not a consumer magazine about cooking or shopping.

The ISSN International Centre records the title as Journal of Saffron Research, with print ISSN 2345-3869 and online ISSN 2383-1316. Its record names the University of Birjand, the university’s Saffron Research Group and the Iranian Society of Agricultural Sciences and Plant Breeding. It lists publication from 2014 and a semiannual frequency.

The Directory of Open Access Journals now identifies the University of Birjand as publisher and says the journal began open-access publishing in 2013. The one-year difference may reflect an initial online or institutional start versus the dated ISSN publication record. Rather than force a single “first issue” date, both catalogue descriptions should be retained with their sources.

What the journal covers

The journal’s indexed subject and keyword information includes saffron agriculture, biotechnology, genetics, medicine and plant breeding. That scope reflects the crop itself. Saffron research crosses agronomy, soil and water management, corm health, flower and stigma development, processing, chemistry, quality testing and possible biological activity.

DOAJ reports double-anonymous peer review, plagiarism checking, DOI identifiers and a Creative Commons licence. It also says authors retain publishing rights and that there is no article processing charge. Those are current directory statements; prospective authors should still check the journal’s own submission site for the latest policies before preparing a manuscript.

The other journals mentioned in the announcement

The translated news report grouped the saffron title with several other University of Birjand publications. Some names were compressed together, so they should not be treated as exact English titles without catalogue confirmation. The announcement referred to:

• applied studies in life sciences and sport;
• research in contemporary literature;
• curriculum or contemporary curriculum research;
• animal and poultry research; and
• environmental stresses in agricultural or crop sciences.

It said the animal and poultry and environmental-stress journals had been publishing for about two and three years. It also reported that licences had been obtained for two further periodicals, translated as Islamic Art and “Seeds and Science and Technology.” Because the old English is ambiguous, the statement is preserved as part of the announcement rather than converted into an unsourced definitive journal list.

A historical picture of Birjand University research

The same official, identified later in the article as Behdani, gave a series of annual research indicators. The report put that year’s research budget above 1.8 billion tomans, a 40% increase from the previous year. It counted 46 projects with outside institutions and another 46 internal university projects.

Publication and conference totals in the announcement were:

• 72 articles indexed in ISI;
• 54 articles indexed in ISC;
• 351 papers presented at national conferences; and
• 159 papers presented at international conferences.

These numbers belong to the reporting period in the archived announcement. The source did not define whether they covered a calendar, academic or Persian year, and they cannot be compared with current totals without the same definitions.

External research contracts

The report said external research contracts were worth about one billion tomans. It highlighted a seismic geotechnical zoning project for Sarbisheh, undertaken with the governorate’s crisis-management office, and work on a comprehensive information and communications technology document with the deputy governor responsible for management development and human resources.

Those projects show the university’s research activity extended well beyond saffron. They do not establish the saffron journal’s budget or funding; the original article placed several university-wide indicators beside the journal announcement.

The university figures need careful reading

The research official described ten colleges or faculties in Birjand and satellite units in Qa’in, Ferdows, Nehbandan, Sarbisheh and Sarayan—the last name was mistranslated as “Sariyan.” The English text called two of these “satellite schools” and then referred to three more, without explaining the administrative distinction.

It reported 12,518 students, including 1,718 graduate students and 206 doctoral students in 31 fields. Other fragments—“127” and “126 students”—appear to refer to programme counts rather than student totals, but the translation does not preserve enough context to assign them confidently. They remain documented as ambiguous figures instead of being silently turned into facts.

The announcement also counted 287 faculty members and said most held doctorates and worked at assistant-professor or associate-professor level. Again, this is a historical institutional snapshot, not the current staffing profile.

Why a saffron-specific research journal matters

Saffron is a specialised crop with large differences in growing conditions, field age, corm quality, processing and analytical methods. A dedicated journal gives researchers a place to compare work across those disciplines. It can also make local Persian-language studies easier to discover, provided articles carry durable identifiers, reliable metadata and transparent review policies.

The periodical’s continued ISSN record and open-access directory entry are more useful evidence than the old “possibly first in the world” prediction. They show that the announced project became a real scholarly journal associated with the University of Birjand and its Saffron Research Group. The world-first claim remains attributed to the early announcement because proving it would require a complete historical survey of saffron periodicals in every country and language.

Sources reviewed: the ISSN International Centre record for the Journal of Saffron Research; the Directory of Open Access Journals entry; and a PubMed-indexed example of work from the University of Birjand Saffron Research Group. The original university statistics come from the archived Birjand Journalists’ Club/YJC report reproduced in the former post. All sources reviewed 25 August 2026.