Praise to God, Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law was founded at the initiative of the International Law Department of University of Qom. It officially started work as a bi-annual, open access, English language and peer- reviewed law journal under the permission granted by the Ministry of Culture and Guidance of the Islamic Republic of Iran in winter, 2021. This bi-quarterly is the leading comprehensive English language journal on international and comparative law published in Iran. The journal enjoys a great editorial team and advisory board of prominent professors from different countries. In the effort to advance the knowledge of International and comparative law, the journal is committed to obtain valid international indexes in the first issue and thus submission of high- quality articles by distinguished professors, scholars, thinkers and researchers in the field of international and comparative law will be mostly welcomed.

Authors are required to carefully study and follow the instructions provided in the ''Guide for Authors'' part. Submitted manuscripts will be double-blind peer reviewed by at least two different reviewers (or in case of any disputes by three reviewers) to ensure neutral evaluation. After an article has passed the initial acceptance criteria, it will be sent to peer-reviewers in that special area of expertise for comments and later approval by the journal’s editorial board members and the editor-in-chief. Once the article is accepted, it will be processed for publication. This Journal respects the rules of ethics in publications, is subject to the rules of the Committee on Ethics in Publications (COPE) and follows the executive regulations of the Iranian Law on Prevention and Combating Fraud in Scientific Works.

University of Qom

In order to achieve the objectives of the Islamic Republic of Iran and with the aim of training skilled individuals to meet the needs of the country in judicial matters, education, and science, University of Qom was founded in 1979 under the name of ‘The Higher Educational and Judicial School of the Seminarians (traditional religious school)’. In 1996, the school turned into the public university of Qom and as a state-run university came under the authority of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. At the present time, the university has 7 faculties and education centers, 3 research and technology institutes, 34 education and research groups.

Today, there are 44 programs at (Discontinuous) Bachelor’s, 90 at Bachelor's and Master's and 40 at Ph.D. levels, and there are 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students studying at the university. University of Qom employs more than 280 Faculty members and continues to achieve its goals through the pursuit of education, learning and research. 

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Law is one of the oldest law institutes in the country. Established in 1980, for the first time after the Glorious Islamic Revolution, the Faculty only offered a judicial studies program, but no later than 1994 the Faculty educated law students at LLM level and until 2007 offered the opportunity to undertake research degree (Ph.D.) in a well-established scholarly community. At later stages the Faculty developed fully online education programs for students who may not have the possibility to be physically present at university.

 Faculty of Law is devoted to train law professionals, distinguished professors, lawyers, judges, notaries and civil servants, many of whom being influential figures in the political and legal life of the country. Today the Faculty of Law consists of 28 professors and associate professors in 5 departments of Private Law, Criminal Law and Criminology, Public International Law, Public Law and Intellectual Property Law. Desired to fulfill the needs of Islamic Nation, most of the Faculty members are also Islamic law and Shariah scholars and incorporate Islamic Law within the framework of legal studies as well as teaching in higher education centers of law and judicial studies, to name a few the training institutes of the Judiciary organ and specialized centers of higher levels of the Seminary(Hawzah).

At the present time, there are 292 LLB students, 110 LLM students studying Criminal Law and Criminology, 109 LLM students studying Private Law, 89 LLM students studying Public International Law, 81 LLM students studying Intellectual Property Law, 70 LLM students studying Public Law, 48 Ph.D. students studying Private Law, 38 Ph.D. students studying Criminal Law and Criminology, 23 Ph.D. students studying Public International Law and 14 Ph.D. students studying Public law, added to tens of international students.

Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC) rankings showed that Faculty of Law placed 5th among top law faculties of the country in terms of their scientific production status.

Our Faculty is an inspiring and lively place where enthusiastic researchers work to enhance the quality and scope of the research. Faculty members published more than 470 research articles during last five years (until Fall, 2018), that is 2.8 publications a year for each Faculty member.

 Publication of the Journal of Comparative Studies on Islamic and Western Law from Fall 2013 - 2018 with no less than 150 articles written by 200 authors from different universities of the country; establishing Iranian Journal of International Law and Comparative Law in English; and Islamic Law Research Center activities 2008 - 2010 are among some done by the faculty to find answers to the pressing legal issues of today in a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary context.

In addition to being excellent teachers and scholars, Faculty members have persevering commitment to cooperate with sovereignty-research institutes including Education Sector Working Group of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Council for the Transformation and Promotion of the Humanities, National Organization of Educational Testing Committee, Supreme Leader Delegation Office in Hajj and Pilgrimage Affairs, Islamic Propaganda Office of Qom Seminary, Research Institutes including Research Institute of Hawzah and University, Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Islamic Human Rights Commission, Centre of Comparative Studies on Islam and IHL, Judicial Studies Institute, Islamic Parliament Research Center, universities including Al-Mustafa International University (Jameatol Mostafa Al Alamia), University of Islamic Sciences, other universities located in Qom Province and other academic centers. Ranking a good place in Farabi International Award, Book of the Year, Shahid Rajaee awards are other honors obtained by Faculty members.

As the same way, our outstanding law students won the first place at Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Competition International Criminal Court in 2015, won the prize for the best Memorial in 2016 and won the first place at the national competition of Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in 2020. 

Given that the Faculty’s mission is to produce and disseminate knowledge, more than 30 scientific meetings and seminars including a national conference (Iran and International Law-November 2015), and research skills courses and workshops like Essay Writing in Foreign Languages and Finding UN Information and Documentation were organized for Faculty members and students. 

There were two cooperation agreements, between the Faculty of Law and Judicial Studies Institute for holding meetings to critique courts decisions; and between Intellectual Property Department and University of Qom Growth Centre for academic-industry relationships and holding the first ‘Legal Startup’ of the country.

In order to develop international relations in 2019, the Faculty of Law has accepted a large number of Iraqi students in master's and Ph.D. levels in various fields of law in Arabic and Persian languages.