Bibliometric analysis of sceintific production and collaboration in the middle east from 1998 to 2007

Using Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, a bibliometric analysis of Middle Eastern countries, focusing on scientific production, thematic field, and collaboration, is presented for the period 1998-2007. Results show that scientific production is trending positively, though there were two significant declines in 2001 and 2004. The analysis of the thematic field demonstrates that these drop-offs for Israel and Saudi Arabia occurred largely in the field of Medicine. The data regarding the evolution of international collaboration in the Middle East also show significant declines in 2001 and 2004. These data are mirrored in data on Western Europe and North America. The fall-off detected in 2001 shows a strong post hoc correlation to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. The data would suggest that in the aftermath of “9/11”, scientific collaboration in both Israel and Saudi Arabia, especially in the field of medicine, was severely curtailed.