Iron (Fe)-doped indium-tin-oxide thin films were prepared using electron beam evaporation technique. The prepared thin films were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, UV-Vis-NIR, and VSM techniques to study their structural, compositional, optical, electrical, and magnetic properties. The XRD studies confirmed the cubic structure of the prepared thin films with crystallite size 26 nm. The morphological studies confirmed the formation of nanorods. The EDX spectra confirmed the presence of elements in the desired ratios. A decrease in optical band gap was observed in the Fe-doped ITO thin films. A broad emission peak at 513 nm was observed in the PL spectra. No change was observed in the emission wavelength with increase of Fe concentration. A weak ferromagnetic nature with an anti-ferromagnetic background was observed in all the Fe-doped ITO thin films. A systematic discussion on observed results was provided in the manuscript. © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.