TEHRAN -- The Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia (CGIE) is preparing to revise its scholarly editorial practices as it enters its fifth decade, with plans to adapt its research organization to advances in digital technology while retaining the alphabetical structure of its principal reference work. 
Kazem Mousavi-Bojnourdi, the centre’s president, announced the proposed changes at a meeting of its Supreme Scientific Council attended by Minister of Science, Research and Technology Hussein Simaee Sarraf and senior scholars.
Mousavi-Bojnourdi said the centre would reassess the length of individual entries and review article titles and subjects, while maintaining its established alphabetical approach.
The initiative reflects a broader effort to modernize encyclopedia production in response to changing research tools and working methods.
“The research tools have changed, and we must make our academic organization more agile and adapt ourselves to digital advances,” Mousavi-Bojnourdi said. 
He added that a commission will undertake a more detailed examination of the proposed reforms, working in consultation with the centre’s scholars and council members.
The center, established in Tehran in 1983, is a major Iranian research institution devoted to encyclopedic scholarship on Islamic and Iranian history, culture and intellectual traditions.
Simaee Sarraf highlighted the distinctive demands of encyclopedia writing, noting that contributors must demonstrate comprehensive command of their subjects. Such work, he argued, requires a broader understanding than that generally expected of authors of conventional academic research papers.
He also addressed the role of universities in Iranian society, arguing that higher education should not be defined exclusively by technological development or technical problem-solving.
Universities, he said, are cultural institutions responsible for intellectual development, social integration and addressing society’s wider challenges. The humanities, including history, philosophy and literature, remain essential foundations for national development.
The minister outlined efforts to expand participation in university governance, including moves to make the selection of faculty and department heads and academic promotion committees more participatory. He also said the ministry was seeking to separate promotion committees serving the humanities, social sciences and arts from those covering engineering.
Simaee Sarraf further identified international sanctions as a source of pressure on Iran’s higher education system, citing increased emigration, disruptions to research fellowships and scholarships, deteriorating laboratory infrastructure and extended periods of study for students.
The meeting also marked the 90th birthday of Muhammad Mojtahed Shabestari, a senior adviser to the centre’s theology and religious denominations section and a member of its Supreme Scientific Council.
Shabestari recalled his four-decade association with the institution and his early conversations with Mousavi-Bojnourdi about establishing a dedicated encyclopedia research centre. Both men had served in Iran’s first parliament following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
He said he had initially doubted whether such an institution could be established amid the political priorities of the time, but subsequently joined its scientific council and remained involved for four decades.
Shabestari expressed hope for a more peaceful and prosperous future for Iran.
The gathering also saw Simaee Sarraf and Muhammad Dehghani formally appointed to the centre’s Supreme Scientific Council.