Aspects of the research
performance of Muslim countries
Mohamed El Amin A. El Tom
Garden City College for S &T
Khartoum - Sudan
Muslim countries: Introductory remarks
• Some 40 predominantly Muslim countries are
home to about 20% of total world population
• ?: Are their collective shares of world
•
•
•
•
GDP
Expenditure on R&D
Research output
Proportionate to their population size?
Wide variations
• Population size: 232.5m (Indonesia) – 0.4m
(Brunei)
• Economies: High income (Kuwait) – Low
income (Mali)
• # tertairy students/100000 inhabts.: 6,734
(Libya) – 106 (Niger)
• Generalizations ---- care!
Research output: The record
• Table 1: G26 share of ISI world publcns (%),
1995-2009
• --------------------------------------------------------• ‘95 ‘97 ‘99 ‘01 ‘03 ‘05 ‘07 ’09
1.1 1.3 1.6 1.8 2.3 2.6 3.3 4.4
------------------------------------------------------------
Research output: The record
• Table 1: No. publcns. In ISI databases and ave.
annual growth rate
• ---------------------------------------------------------• Country
Publcs/yr/m
2000-2009
Ave. ann growth rate
1999-2009
• ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Albania
• Algeria
18.6
28.1
24.9
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Brunei
Comoros
Djibouti
Egypt
Guinea
32.7
161
4.7
125.1
4.6
5.5
47.2
14.4
7.8
13.8
20.5
12.1
1.8
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•
•
•
•
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Indonesia
Iran
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Libya
Malaysia
Mali
3 15.9
94.3
168.2
150
287.8
15.7
86.1
8.6
56.5
17.4
10.2
12.6
27.1
17.9
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•
•
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Mauritania
Morocco
Niger
Oman
Pakistan
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
6.2
37.6
6.2
111.2
10.6
179
71.3
3.8
15.4
12.3
8.8
20.4
22.9
25.9
7
15
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Syria
9.7
14
Tunisia
147.1
31
Turkey
227.1
31
UAE
93.7
19.1
Yemen
2.9
25.6
------------------------------------------------G26 countries
25.1
World
5.9
Huge deficit in research output
Research dominated by 7 countries
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Egypt
Iran
Malaysia
Morocco
Saudi Arabia
Tunisia
Turkey
Table 2: Research output: G26 vs G7
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Country
1999
2009
----------------------------------------------------Egypt
2501
5591
Iran
1204
16977
Malaysia
1019
4800
Morocco
1011
1495
Saudi Arabia 1679
2670
Tunisia
574
2983
Turkey
6250
25687
•
1999
2009
• ----------------------------------------------------• Total G26
18707
73424
• Total G7
14238
60203
• (% G26)
(76.1)
(82.0)
------------------------------------------------------
Dominance of universities
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Country Publcs., 1995-2009 Non-univ (%)
Egypt
47610
16.7
Iran
68992
7
Malaysia
24132
6.9
Morocco
16037
37.7
Saudi Arabia 26807
28.8
Tunisia
16930
1.5
Turkey
179257
10.1
Structure of research, 1995-2009
Total
Appl. Sci Basic SS A&H
------------------------------------------------------------
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•
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Egypt
47610 32446
Iran
68992 45472
Malaysia 24132 16440
Morocco 16037 10286
S. Arabia 26807 16787
Tunisia
16930 10924
Turkey 179257 114660
2619 939
3771 2662
980 1369
846 159
1105 599
738 278
5371 9158
262
201
147
110
67
70
627
Why this low level of achievement?
• Demographics: No. researchers is low (649/m
OIC ave vs 2,532 world ave.; participation by
women in sci and eng. Is low
• Language: > 80% of the world’s scientific lit.
appear first in English. Therefore, scientific
work requires a min. level of competence in
English, which is lacking in most Muslim
countries.
• Education: Too much rote learning;