Geographical distribution of biomedical publications from the Gulf Corporation Council countries

OBJECTIVE: It was our purpose to perform a geographical analysis for the number of biomedical and clinical research publications from the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council over the past decade (1990-1999).

METHODS: Medline was searched with the aid of the Internet provider PubMed. By using the advanced search option, entries were based on the country name for each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the time period considered.

RESULTS: The number of Medline-listed biomedical research papers published in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries over the last 10 years totaled 6,960 and increased by 14% over the past decade. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia followed by Kuwait was by far the most prolific and accounted for 67 and 16% of publications. The research output from the United Arab Emirates and Oman grew steadily over the past decade, while it appeared to plateau for both Bahrain and Qatar.

CONCLUSION: Taking into account that Gulf Cooperation Council countries have a relatively short history of research, the data show that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries are very prolific in terms of Medline-indexed biomedical research publications.