<p>This study investigates acceleration response spectra (ARS) resulting from different strong-motion databases, including Iranian, Turkey, and worldwide records. The study examined 5603 time histories from 404 shallow crustal earthquakes with a moment magnitude greater than M5.0, recorded by 1366 accelerometer stations. Site categorization follows the Iranian seismic design code (Standard No. 2800) procedure which is based on V_S30 (the time-averaged shear-wave velocity to 30 m depth). The ARS with a damping ratio of 5% was computed using 1913 Iranian time histories from 189 earthquakes with moment magnitudes greater than M5.0 at distances up to 80 km. The ARS from other datasets were also calculated and plotted in the same soil type using strong motion data from Turkey (AFAD) and important shallow crustal events around the world (PEER). The study reveals a mild discrepancy between derived record-based spectra for Iran and Standard No. 2800 spectra for different soil classes, particularly in softer ones. The near-field results demonstrate that with increasing in magnitudes, the response spectrum’s peak periods tend to increase at intermediate periods. In the analysis of near-field spectra, the proposed spectrum is significantly higher than the Iranian seismic design code (Standard No. 2800) spectrum in the short- and medium-period range for site class 2, indicating non-conservatism in current designing of short- and medium-rise structures in the near fault region. According to the conducted near-field investigations, it seems that from the statistical point of view, there is no need to apply the near-field coefficient in the standard No. 2800 spectrum.</p>