Gary Jones, across at Crumb Trail, links to an interesting article by Sadaf Shadan (registration required) about science research in the Middle East:
The impact of scientific research throughout the Middle Eastern nations is greater than ever before, according to a study from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), the organization responsible for the allocation of journal impact factors.
The study, published in the ISI newsletter Science Watch, took the number of research papers indexed by ISI between 1981 and 2002 to assess the scientific output and impact of a selected group of Middle Eastern countries. To ensure a meaningful comparison, certain countries were excluded because of their relatively large (for example, Israel) or small (for example, Libya) size of scientific enterprise.
With 2,492 papers published in 2002, Egypt tops the list. However, the increase in scientific output of Iran, which has more than tripled (from 501 papers in 1996 to 1830 in 2002), is considered particularly significant. An upward trend was noted even among the nations that contributed smaller number of papers. For example, Oman, which in 1981 had a record of zero publications, contributed 236 papers by 2002.
The survey found that the cites-per-paper figures for publications by Middle Eastern nations favorably compared to the impact mark of the rest of the world in the same field…
One of the nations that appears at the bottom of this list, both with respect to the annual output and the relative impact of its scientific publications, is Iraq. The recent turmoil in this country has undoubtedly damaged scientific research. However, work is already underway to tackle this issue.
In November 2003, leading Iraqi scientists from around the globe gathered at the Royal Society, the UK National Academy of Science in London for a two-day meeting to set up a new Iraqi National Academy of Science. In a joint statement, the 12 founding members said, “We are realistic about the challenges ahead that we face, but we share a common commitment to revive the scientific talents of Iraq, for the benefits of its people and humanity.”
Gary himself comments on the significance of the study’s findings:
I think this is important, an indicator of social evolution and progress that is often missed by those focused on economics and politics.