Research productivity of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in science and social sciences

Journal Article

Bukhari, Sultan AyoubMeo, Abdul Latif Mahesar, Saeed Ahmed Sheikh, Kamran Sattar, Ishfaq A . 2016

• Publication Online URL: Original article Honey and Diabetes Mellitus: Obstacles and Challenges - Road to be Repaired
• Magazine \ Newspaper: Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences

Publication Abstract

Abstract
Objective: To investigate the research progress of Gulf Cooperation Council countries in science and social sciences.
Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, fromJune 2014 to February 2015.All research documents related to the 1996-2013 period having
an affiliation with Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar,
Bahrain and Oman, were tracked. The main source for data-gathering wasWorld Association of Universities, Sci-mago
Journal and Country ranking andWeb of Science Institute of Scientific Information (ISI)Thomson Reuters.
Results: Of the 544 institutions produced research papers, 141(25.92%) were universities or degree-awarding
institutes, 372(68.38%) were research institutes and 31(5.7%) were Institute of Scientific Information-indexed
scientific journals. The number of degree awarding institutes were 68(48.23%) in Saudi Arabia, 33(23.4%) in the
United Arab Emirates and 12(8.51%) in Qatar. The total number of publications contributed by the region was
133638 (Mean ± SD: 22273 ± 26302.20); citable documents 127739 (Mean ± SD: 21289.83 ±25241.22); self-citations
105,716 (Mean ± SD: 17619.33 ± 23328.44); total citations 756141 (Mean ± SD: 126023.5 ± 143260.95) and citations
per documents 33.22 (Mean ± SD: 5.53 ± 1.09).The overall and mean Hirschindex was 513and 85.5± 35.39.
Conclusion: Among Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Saudi Arabia was the most productive country producing
adequate number of research publications, citations and holding the highest Hirsch index value.