![]() All searches were completed within one day on 06 th February 2008 to avoid bias due to the daily update of the databases. We have chosen to report only original articles because they represent the research activities. They were searched for the number of " original research" articles published between January 1 st, 2001 and December 31 st, 2005 and affiliated to the countries being studied. Two scientific bibliographic databases, PubMed and SCI-expanded, were selected because they implement acceptable international standards. Iran, Israel and Turkey were included as non-Arab countries in the region. Other Arab countries in the region were excluded because of their low income: Yemen, Comoros, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea and Mauritania. Sixteen Arab countries of high or middle income (World Bank classification) were included: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain. This could help in putting the publication activities in the Arab countries in perspective. Therefore, this study analyses both the quantity and quality of biomedical publications of original research articles in Arab countries with high or middle income (World Bank classification), and compares the Arab countries with non-Arab Middle Eastern countries of similar income. Published studies assessing biomedical research output of Arab countries have been mainly quantitative. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of biomedical research publication in the Arab countries is essential for monitoring and improving this activity. This should have been accompanied by increases in scientific research output. Over the last four decades, living standards in most Arab countries have risen, especially those with oil-based economies, the number of undergraduate and postgraduate medical institutions have increased, and health services have improved. ![]() Thus, they are frequently regarded as one unit despite the differences in wealth and population size. The Arab populations share a language, and most of them share a religion, culture and historical background. Nowadays, the Arab countries are counted among the developing countries and have a combined estimated population of about 315 million. Arabic was considered the language of sciences and Avicenna's "The Canon of Medicine" was considered the main textbook of medicine in Europe for many centuries. The contribution of the Islamic civilization, of which the Arabs were a central component, to medicine in the Middle Ages is well recognised. SCI-expanded, on the other hand, contains bibliographic information from all fields of science, including biomedical research, and covers about 6650 journals in all field of science, but it requires a subscription. It contains records from > 5000 biomedical journals. Pubmed is freely available and widely used. PubMed and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-expanded). Such analyses make use of scientific bibliographic databases, e.g. The quality and the quantity of biomedical publications is used to asses the scientific activities of universities and research centres in individual countries, groups of countries, and even continents. Studies are needed to clarify the causes and to propose strategies to improve the biomedical research status in Arab countries. The Arab world is producing fewer biomedical publications of lower quality than other Middle Eastern countries. The publications from the Arab countries also have a significantly lower (p < 0.001) citation frequency. The Arab countries also scored less when the data were normalized to population, gross domestic product (GDP), and GDP/capita. The 16 Arab countries together have 5775 and 14,374 original research articles listed by PubMed and SCI-expanded, respectively, significantly less (p < 0.001) than the other three Middle Eastern countries (25,643 and 49,110). PubMed and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-expanded) were searched systematically for the original biomedical research publications and their citation frequencies of 16 Arab nations and three non-Arab Middle Eastern countries (Iran, Israel and Turkey), all of which are classified as middle or high income countries. This study aims to assess the performance of biomedical research in the Arab world during 2001–2005 and to compare it with other Middle Eastern non-Arab countries. Analysis of biomedical research and publications in a country or group of countries is used to monitor research progress and trends.
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