Iranian Institute of Anthropology and Culture (IIAC)

What Iranian Institute of Anthropology and Culture (IIAC) does

The Iranian Institute of Anthropology and Culture (IIAC), operating under the legal name Kanoon-e Anthropology and Culture (کانون انسان‌شناسی و فرهنگ), is a Tehran-based non-profit academic publication platform founded in 1385 (2006/2007 Solar Hijri). It functions as a volunteer-run digital journal and community platform that publishes Persian-language articles, analyses, and scholarly content spanning anthropology, cultural studies, mythology, social sciences, political science, philosophy, history, art, literature, and regional studies of Iran and the world. The platform operates on a WordPress-based content management system and distributes content through its central website alongside Instagram, Telegram, YouTube, and Aparat channels. A Supreme Council (شورای عالی) of approximately 45 named professors, scholars, and artists provides editorial governance, and the organization hosts regular weekly sessions including Sunday anthropology sessions (یکشنبه‌های انسان‌شناسی و فرهنگ) and Thursday Q&A sessions (پنجشنبه‌های پرسش و پاسخ), with cumulative session count exceeding 186.

IIAC has no commercial revenue model. It is funded exclusively through voluntary contributions and public donations, with financial supporter relationships noted with Hamoon Iran (هامون ایران) and Persian Blue Institute (موسسه آبی پرشین), and a strategic collaboration with the Iranian Anthropology Association (انجمن انسان‌شناسی ایران) on joint programming such as the Tehran Research (تهران‌پژوهی) series. The organization employs 8 people and operates from Tehran, Iran, with no disclosed parent company, external investors, subsidiaries, or funding rounds. All content is freely accessible for educational purposes. There is no evidence of paid products, subscriptions, advertising, or commercial distribution partnerships.

The platform's primary audience consists of Persian-speaking academics, students, scholars, and artists engaged in interdisciplinary humanities research, with secondary reach to the general public interested in Iranian cultural and social topics. Distribution is entirely digital and self-serve, with no physical products, paid channels, or geographic restrictions disclosed beyond the Persian-language orientation of all content.

Name

Iranian Institute of Anthropology and Culture (IIAC)

Legal name

کانون انسان‌شناسی و فرهنگ (Kanoon-e Anthropology and Culture)

Website

https://anthropologyandculture.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Iranian Institute of Anthropology and Culture (IIAC) is a Tehran-based non-profit academic publication platform founded in 2006/2007 that publishes free Persian-language humanities content and hosts weekly scholarly sessions for professors, students, scholars, and artists, funded entirely by voluntary donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Publishing (Humanities & Cultural Studies)

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAE), Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)

Keywords

• Academic publishing
• Cultural anthropology
• Persian humanities
• Interdisciplinary scholarship
• Open-access journal

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Voluntary Contributions: IIAC operates on voluntary contributions and public donations. The website explicitly states that financial support from collaborators and interested parties is needed alongside scientific cooperation, and even small donations are considered effective in supporting the organization's activities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

IIAC operates a volunteer-run, non-profit Persian-language digital academic publication platform (anthropologyandculture.com) that publishes open-access scholarly articles across anthropology, cultural studies, social sciences, philosophy, history, art, literature, political science, and Iranian regional studies. The platform hosts regular weekly academic sessions (شنست‌ها on Sundays) and Thursday Q&A sessions (پنجشنبه‌های پرسش و پاسخ), maintains a weekly book section, and distributes content through Instagram, Telegram, YouTube, and Aparat.

Product overview

انسان‌شناسی و فرهنگ (Anthropology and Culture) is a digital academic publication platform operated by the Iranian Institute of Anthropology and Culture. The website functions as an online journal publishing Persian-language articles and analyses across multiple disciplines including anthropology, social sciences, humanities, political science, art, literature, and regional studies. The platform features content organized into thematic categories, author profiles, news sections, and publication archives. It operates on a WordPress-based content management system and maintains social media presence on Instagram, Telegram, YouTube, and Aparat for content distribution.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Anthropology and Culture Digital Publication Platform (انسان‌شناسی و فرهنگ) A volunteer-run, non-profit Persian-language digital academic journal publishing open-access articles, analyses, and scholarly content across anthropology, social sciences, humanities, cultural studies, political science, philosophy, history, art, literature, mythology, and Iranian regional studies. Content is freely accessible to all visitors without subscription.
• Weekly Sunday Academic Sessions (یکشنبه‌های انسان‌شناسی و فرهنگ) Recurring weekly academic sessions (شنست‌ها) hosted by IIAC for the academic community, featuring presentations and discussions on anthropology, cultural studies, and related humanities topics. Held in conjunction with the Iranian Anthropology Association for some sessions, including the Tehran Research (تهران‌پژوهی) series.
• Weekly Thursday Q&A Sessions (پنجشنبه‌های پرسش و پاسخ) Recurring Thursday Q&A sessions (پنجشنبه‌های پرسش و پاسخ) hosted by IIAC, providing an open forum for discussion and inquiry on cultural and anthropological topics.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• انجمن انسان‌شناسی ایران (Iranian Anthropology Association)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIIAC collaborates with the Iranian Anthropology Association on joint sessions and events. The Tehran Research (تهران‌پژوهی) series of meetings is hosted through this collaboration, with scholars invited from interdisciplinary backgrounds to present research on Tehran.
• Hamoon Iran (هامون ایران)minorOthersListed as a supporter (حامی) on the website. Hamoon Iran is referenced as a supporting organization for IIAC's activities.
• Persian Blue Institute (موسسه آبی پرشین)minorOthersListed as a supporter (حامی) on the website alongside Hamoon Iran, providing support to IIAC's operations.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Frontiers: Open-access academic publisher with social-science and humanities journals. Comparable as an open-access scholarly platform, though commercial and globally distributed rather than volunteer-run.
• MDPI: Open-access academic publisher with journals across humanities and social sciences. Comparable as an open-access scholarly publishing model, though MDPI is commercial and operates globally.

Others

• JSTOR: Digital library aggregating scholarly humanities and social-science content. Comparable as a discovery and access layer for humanities scholarship, though it is a licensed archive rather than a publishing platform.

Broad incumbents

• Brill Publishers: Established academic publisher with a strong humanities and social-sciences catalog, including Middle East and Asian studies. Comparable as a humanities scholarly publisher, but operates at global, commercial scale with a much wider portfolio.
• Routledge (Taylor & Francis): Major academic publisher with deep humanities and social-sciences lists including area studies. Comparable as a humanities publishing platform serving academic readers, with global distribution and English-language focus.
• Cambridge University Press: University press publishing extensively in humanities and social sciences. Comparable as a high-credibility academic humanities publisher, though vastly larger and English-language focused.
• SAGE Publications: Academic publisher with significant social-sciences and humanities coverage. Comparable as a humanities/social-sciences scholarly publisher, but operates as a much larger commercial incumbent.

Direct peers

• H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online: Community-driven network of humanities and social-science scholars hosting discussions, reviews, and resources. Comparable to IIAC's volunteer, council-led academic community model and editorial structure.
• Project MUSE: Digital platform hosting peer-reviewed humanities and social science journals and books. Comparable as an online humanities scholarly publishing venue serving academic readers, though operating at much larger scale and in English.
• Encyclopædia Iranica: Open-access scholarly reference work on Iranian civilization, history, and culture. Most directly comparable to IIAC as a long-running Persian/Iranian-studies humanities knowledge platform with open access and academic contributors.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@anthropologyandculture
• Instagraminstagram.com/anthropology_iran
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/anthropologyandculture

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles45 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Iranian Institute of Anthropology and Culture (IIAC)