Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

The year 2025 has been marked in the history of our country by a number of significant socio-political events. On August 8 last year, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev achieved the initialing of the provisions of a Peace Agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia with the participation of President of the United States Donald Trump, which stands as a major historic event. President Ilham Aliyev, who secured a historic Victory for Azerbaijan in Karabakh, successfully implemented the Great Return movement and ensured the comprehensive development of our country, has gained high international prestige as one of the global guarantors of Peace. This is a great honor and source of pride for the independent Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people.

These remarks were made by President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Academician Isa Habibbeyli, in his report titled “From Azerbaijani Studies to Digitalization and International Relations” delivered at the General Assembly dedicated to the scientific results of ANAS for 2025.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli noted that President Ilham Aliyev’s substantive and programmatic speech at the 80th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences on November 3, 2025 defined a comprehensive roadmap for Azerbaijani science and ANAS. He emphasized that, in response to the Head of State’s calls to safeguard the security of the Azerbaijani language and enrich it through internal resources, the institutes of the Humanities and Social Sciences Departments of the Academy—where the mother tongue as the state language factor is fundamental—have prioritized this issue and further intensified the implementation of several important studies.

“For the first time in the history of our science, the creation of a National Language Corpus, the planning of a new edition of the Orthography Dictionary, the preparation of an Orthoepy Dictionary for the first time, and the compilation of a reference guide on personal names are significant scientific outcomes achieved in light of our President’s lessons on the mother tongue. At the same time, following November, by decision of the Presidium of the Academy, the establishment of the ‘Modern Azerbaijani Language and Speech Culture’ and ‘Onomastics’ departments at the Nasimi Institute of Linguistics serves the purposeful implementation of President Ilham Aliyev’s language policy,” Academician Isa Habibbeyli said.

The speaker also drew attention to the fact that monographic studies published and conferences held to address issues arising from the Presidential Order “On the Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the First Turkological Congress” are, in essence, scientific manifestations of the state language policy pursued by the Head of State. For the first time in the country and across the Turkic world, the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences published a poetry anthology in 2024 using the common Turkic alphabet adopted that year. This constitutes a practical contribution to the mother tongue–state language policy of the victorious country’s victorious leader and to the adoption of a common Latin alphabet.

In his speech, Academician Isa Habibbeyli stated that in his remarks at the 80th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences, President Ilham Aliyev outlined that research in the field of history within the country’s scientific environment, including at the Academy’s research institutes, should prioritize the criteria of Azerbaijanism, the realities of our ancient history, and the interests and realities of the independent Azerbaijani state.

“I believe that the most important scientific result of 2025 in the field of history is the discovery of a new paleoanthropological remain of a Neanderthal human dating back 80,000 years, found during joint archaeological excavations conducted by the Azerbaijan–Japan scientific expedition at the ancient Taghlar Cave in Khojavand district by Associate Professor Azad Zeynalov, PhD in History and leading researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. The archaeological finding is currently undergoing carbon analysis in Japan. If confirmed, as researchers strongly believe it will be, this will be considered the second discovery of global significance after the oldest human jawbone discovered in Azikh Cave in 1968 by Professor Mammadali Huseynov. Furthermore, after many years of interruption, the emergence of a new study dedicated to the state of Atropatena at the A.A. Bakikhanov Institute of History and Ethnology is also a significant event. Work on the planned three-volume History of the Republic of Azerbaijan, including the history of our independence, at the Institute of History and Ethnology is likewise a response of historical science to the President’s calls,” Academician Isa Habibbeyli noted.

The report also emphasized that expanding the scope, enhancing the theoretical level and practical significance of research related to Karabakh, Eastern Zangezur, the Great Return movement, reintegration, and Caucasian Albania at the research institutes of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department, sectoral scientific organizations, and higher education institutions and universities is of particular importance.

It was stated that the “Encyclopedia of the Flora of Karabakh” prepared by the Institute of Botany and the two-volume “Atlas of the Geology and Mineral Resources of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur” published by the Institute of Geology are among the most important scientific achievements of 2025.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli noted that work on the two-volume “Heydar Aliyev Encyclopedia” is also nearing completion.

“The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, at the 80th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences, placed technological development, digitalization, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity at the center of attention as essential priorities of 21st-century science. I would like to report to the General Assembly that these global trends, aligned with the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are seriously engaging Azerbaijani science. In 2025, the year for which we are presenting our report, the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences experienced processes ranging from electronization to digitalization and artificial intelligence. The renaming in 2025 of the ‘Electronic Services’ departments established in 2023–2024 within the Presidium of the Academy as ‘Digital Science and Artificial Intelligence’ also indicates that they perform research-oriented functions rather than merely practical electronic services. Likewise, accelerating the electronic library movement in 2025 and initiating, for the first time, the implementation of an Electronic Archive program are projects realized toward fulfilling the tasks set before us by the country’s leadership,” the ANAS head stated.

It was also noted that the inclusion of the “Astronomy” journal of the Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the high-ranking Scopus database should be regarded as one of the significant scientific events of 2025.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli also described the growth and expanded scope of research based on international and domestic scientific cooperation as an important innovation: “For the first time, the ‘Report’ collection prepared by ANAS includes separate sections presenting research conducted on the basis of international scientific cooperation and nationwide collaboration. The ‘Report’ shows that joint studies with foreign researchers have been carried out at the Oil and Gas Institute of the Division of Earth Sciences and at the Republican Seismological Service Center. Steps toward joint research are also observed at the Institute of Economics within the Social Sciences Division. Within the Humanities Division, two research projects can be mentioned in this direction.”

The ANAS head further noted that the first phase of the study “Sheki Laughter and Gabrovo Humor” has been completed jointly by the Institute of Literary Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature and the Sheki Regional Scientific Center of ANAS. The book of the same title was presented to the President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, who participated in the events marking ANAS’s 80th anniversary.

It was also reported that the research on the first phase of the joint project “Nizami Ganjavi and Shota Rustaveli,” carried out by the Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature and the Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature, was published as a book in 2024 at Cambridge University and in Tbilisi. Currently, the second phase of the research also involves the Institute of Architecture and Art and the Ganja Branch of ANAS, and the Azerbaijani side fulfilled its responsibilities regarding the project’s implementation in 2025.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli stated that, in general, serious attention should be given both to scientific cooperation with research institutes and universities of other countries and to domestic scientific collaboration: “Considering that nearly all works awarded the Nobel Prize in recent years have been collective research projects, we can see how relevant and necessary international cooperation in science is.”

“Although the Academy holds record indicators nationwide in terms of the number of monographs and articles, unfortunately, despite progress compared to last year, our indicators regarding high-ranking impact-factor articles are not very encouraging. The heads of the Academy’s scientific divisions and the directors of research institutes must work hard to create a serious breakthrough in this area,” the ANAS head emphasized.

At the end of his speech, Academician Isa Habibbeyli stated that the Academy’s staff will continue to firmly support the far-sighted and wise policy of the Head of State, duly fulfill the tasks set by the President, and continue to contribute to the development of the country.

Translation by Gulhane Aghayeva, Department of Public Relations, Press, and Information, Presidium of ANAS.

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