en تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research paper <p>In a recent paper, Khojasteh emph{et al.} [F. Khojasteh, S. Shukla, S. Radenovi&#39;c, A new approach to the study of fixed point theorems via simulation functions, Filomat, 29 (2015), 1189-&ndash;1194] presented a new class of simulation functions, say $mathcal{Z}$-contractions, with unifying power over known contractive conditions in the literature. Following this line of research, we extend and generalize their results on a $b$-metric context, by giving a new notion of&nbsp; $b$-simulation function. Then, we prove and discuss some fixed point results in relation with existing ones.</p> $b$-Metric space, Partial order, Nonlinear contraction, Fixed point, $b$-Simulation function. 123 136 http://ijmsi.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-568-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 M. Demma 10031947532846002891 10031947532846002891 No Universit`a degli Studi di Palermo R. Saadati rsaadati@eml.cc 10031947532846002892 10031947532846002892 Yes Iran University of Science and Technology P. Vetro 10031947532846002893 10031947532846002893 No Universit`a degli Studi di Palermo