Coinciding with the Iranian Research Week, the Ninth Survey on Establishments with Research and Development(R & D) Activities was conducted from 23 December 2011 to 23 February 2012. The following places/institutions were enumerated in this survey:
1. Research centers and institutes
2. Industrial establishments with 50 and over workers with research and development activity
3. All universities and higher education institutes affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology(including all branches of Payam-e-Noor university , non-profit higher education institutes in the capitals of provinces excluding comprehensive applied science and technology universities) and also comprehensive, vast and very vast branches of the Islamic Azad University.
It is necessary to mention that in order to measure some of the indicators of science and technology in Iran, this survey was implemented biennially from 1997 to 2009 by the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI) and since 2009 it has been conducted annually.