Policy instruments, as operational mechanisms for achieving public policy objectives, are considered one of the central cores of policy design studies and play a pivotal role in the successful implementation of public policies as the backbone of public policy design. Accordingly, numerous studies have examined policy instruments. Nevertheless, there is still no clear understanding of the specific specialized areas addressed by these studies, the stages of the policymaking process in which they were conducted, their methodological approaches, and the existing research gaps within domestic literature. The present study was conducted to address these questions. To this end, 74 scientific-research articles indexed in three معتبرIranian academic databases were reviewed and analyzed using the scoping review method. The findings indicated that the highest number of studies on policy instruments was published in 1402 (2023/2024), with 11 articles. In terms of journals, Science and Technology Policy had the highest number of publications, while among specialized policy fields, the economic domain accounted for the largest share with 26 articles. From the perspective of research objectives, the majority of the reviewed articles were prescriptive in nature, and the dominant theoretical framework employed in most articles was aligned with functional-economic theories. Voluntary instruments and the policy formulation stage received the greatest research attention. Regarding scope, 60 studies were conducted at the national level. In terms of methodological approach, qualitative studies constituted the majority with 48 articles. Finally, documents and records were the most frequently used data collection tools.