Impact of GDP, spending on R&D, the number of universities and scientific journals on research publications in environmental sciences in the Middle East.

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to assess the impact of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), spending on Research and Development (R&D), the number of universities and scientific journals on the published research documents, citable documents, citations per document and H-index in environmental sciences in the Middle East countries. MATERIALS AND METHODS All the 16 Middle East countries were included in the study. Information regarding the GDP, spending on R&D, the total number of universities and indexed journals was collected. Total number of research documents (papers), citable documents, citations per document and H-index in environmental sciences during the period 1996-2011 was recorded. The study used the World Bank, SCI-mago/Scopus, Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports (Thomson Reuters) as the main sources of information. RESULTS The mean GDP per capita of all the Middle East countries amounted to 18 125.49±5386.28 US$, spending on R&D was 0.63±0.28 US$, the number of universities equaled 36.56±11.33 and mean ISI indexed journals amounted to 8.25±3.93. The mean number of research documents published in environmental sciences in the Middle East countries during the period 1996-2011 was 2202.12±883.98; citable documents: 2156.87±865.09; citations per document: 8.74±0.73; and the H-index: 35.37±6.17. There was a positive correlation between the money spent on R&D and citations per documents (r = 0.6, p = 0.01), H-Index (r = 0.6, p = 0.01); the number of universities and a total of research documents (r = 0.65, p = 0.006), citable documents (r = 0.65, p = 0.006), H-Index (r = 0.50, p = 0.04), as well as ISI indexed journals and total research documents (r = 0.94, p = 0.0001), citable documents (r = 0.94, p = 0.0001), H-Index (r = 0.73, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The Middle East countries which spend more on R&D and which have a large number of universities and ISI indexed journals are likely to produce more significant volume of research papers in the field of environmental science.