Four papers by the researchers of the Islamic Research and Information Center (IRIC) were published in the latest issue of the Encyclopedia of the World of Islam.

In order to prepare and submit specialized research papers on the subject of Shia academic studies in the west, collaboration began between IRIC and the Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation. Since this is an important and widespread subject, the project was defined in 4 different study areas. The researchers of IRIC performed a deep literature review of the collection of the work done by the western scholars on Shiism in Great Britain, North America, German-speaking countries as well as the publications in French.

The outcome of these research studies have been published in the 28^th volume of the Encyclopedia of the World of Islam under the heading of “Shia, Academic studies and Research in the West”.

The paper covering studies in German-speaking countries has been written by Dr. Fatemeh Taromi-rad, North America by Ms. Maryam Saadati and Ms. Zohreh Esfahani, Great Britain by Dr. Maryam Sadat Mousavi and the relevant studies in French by Mr. Mohammad Ba-Azm.

This study was supervised and guided by the well-known Islamic scholar, Hujjatul-Islam Hassan Taromi –rad with cooperation of the IRIC Research Committee. It is worth noting that a more detailed version of this research work will be published as separate books for those interested in the academic work on Shia studies.

Islamic Research and Information Center has been involved in specialized studies on Islamic studies in the West and introduction of Islam to the western world for more than 3 decades.