Iran's Steep Climb
Science watch
19-Mar-2011
When Science Watch
last examined a selection of Middle Eastern nations seven years ago
(14[6]:1-2, November/December 2003), Iran was in the midst of a distinct
rise in its output of scientific publications, surpassing Saudi Arabia
but still trailing Egypt. Since then, Iran’s annual publication count
has increased sharply, markedly outstripping that of Egypt and other
Middle Eastern nations whose output has risen more gradually in recent
years.

To gauge the progress of the selected countries
since the previous survey, Science Watch turned to Thomson Reuters
InCites™ Global Comparisons and its store of publication and citation
statistics covering more than 170 countries.

The group of
nations under scrutiny is largely the same as the 2003 survey—the three
countries noted above, along with Jordan, the United Arab Emirates,
Syria, Kuwait, Oman, and Lebanon—with the addition of Cyprus this time
in lieu of Iraq (with the latter having produced fewer than 1,000 papers
during the period from 2005 to 2009, in contrast to Cyprus’s total of
more than 2,100).

Consistent with the previous survey, the aim
here was to examine a group of nations with roughly comparable
scientific output. The region’s higher-producing nations, such as Turkey
and, notably, Israel, were again left off.

As it happens, in
recent years Iran ha... >>>

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