Purpose: Considering the critical role of open data governance in enhancing transparency, accountability, and data-driven decision-making in governmental systems, this study aimed to identify the barriers to open and functional data governance in Iran.

Method: A qualitative research design with a descriptive phenomenology was employed. The participants included stakeholders and key actors involved in Iran’s governmental open data landscape. Using purposive sampling, 17 informed participants were selected, including officials from the National Open Data Portal at the Information Technology Organization, data release managers from national agencies, and other public-sector open data stakeholders. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews lasting 60 to 120 minutes and were analyzed using thematic analysis based on the framework of Braun and Clarke (2006).

Findings: This study, conducted in the context of Iran, revealed that challenges to open data governance could be categorized into five main themes: weak technical infrastructure, cultural and educational barriers, legal and regulatory gaps, institutional-political barriers, and structural-economic constraints. Participants highlighted systemic limitations in infrastructure, resistance to data sharing, ambiguous legal frameworks, fragmented institutional responsibilities, and insufficient economic incentives as key impediments. It is worth noting that these challenges are specific to the context of Iran.

Conclusions: These results suggested that overcoming these barriers requires coordinated technical, cultural, legal, institutional, and economic interventions. The study concluded that addressing these challenges could strengthen Iran’s open data ecosystem and support the advancement of evidence-based and data-driven governance strategies.