Research in Arab countries is weak ,s scientific research is considered as a tool to assess the growth and development in national and regional health care. Successful research community requires innovative environment, resources and funds. Funds might be through government, industries, universities, research organizations and private sectors.Regional and national expenditures on scientific research are indicators to study the knowledge system that relies on the use of science, technology, and innovation (STI). In developed countries the expenditures in scientific research is about 4-6% from the national income growth domestic product (GDP) compared to 0.2-0.4% in Arab countries.Recent reports indicated that Arab countries took counted steps to develop their research and experimental development (R&D) to stay competitive with global markets, but a lot still to be done. The Gulf States and Egypt are the most proactive at promotion of their science among Arab countries.In Saudi Arabia, they established the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST). In Qatar they established the Qatar Science and Technology Park. While in Egypt they established the Zewail City of Science and Technology.In conclusion, although research in Arab countries is progressively moving towards improvement of STI, it is still far behind the developed countries. Several key points need to be considered by decision makers to the actual need of Arab communities.so i urge all Arab scientists to answer?
I agree with your points.
In addition to research centers, we need quality academic journals that publish in Arabic language so that the interests of readers, researchers, supporters, and more importantly government officials may increase.
Some challenges facing scientific research in the Arab world:
- Centralized education (run by government). Universities and education institutes are not independent.
-Lack of specialized centers for scientific research.
-Low rates of expenditure on scientific research.
-Heavy teaching load (no time or energy to conduct research).
-Heavy load of administrative task and community service (meaningless meetings discussing administrative issues involving all faculty members!!!).
- Low quality of research (mostly for rank promotion).
- Poor facilities (classrooms, laboratories, library books, art rooms).
-Political stagnation.
-Insecure job (no tenure for the expat scholars/researchers in the Arab Gulf despite the fact that they [expats] are doing rigorous scientific researches).
I agree doctor ElSayed ElAswad, especially on these points:
-Low rates of expenditure on scientific research.
-Heavy teaching load (no time or energy to conduct research).
-Heavy load of administrative task and community service (meaningless meetings discussing administrative issues involving all faculty members!!!).
- Low quality of research (mostly for rank promotion).
- Poor facilities (classrooms, laboratories, library books, art rooms).
-Political stagnation.
research in arab countries is weak and low budget ,also universities are not free in ideology ,i agree with yosra
Well, I cannot argue about something I am not familiar with. Yet, first point is problematic as there is no something like independent education university or institute. Somebody has to finance researchers, and facilities.
Western research in social sciences is far from being something to be as a point of reference. It used to be. It is highly ideological, in particular sociology and political sciences. More then 90 percent of papers in USA are never cited, and those that are have strong bias. Look at: Michael Desch, Cult of the Irrelevant: The Waning Influence of Social Science on National Security, Princeton University Press .
well in iraq we got more than 60 private university financed by investors and private,now there is progress in research in Iraq,and many papers were puplished.we hope to improve research and education in Iraq
Dear Prof. Alasadi,
As I said I am not familiar with your situation. Publication of papers is not necessarily linked to quality of research. There were affairs that proved how biased are scientific journals in the West. Sokal affair is one of them. However, this thus not mean that you had a poor research previously. Please, take into account that I am writing of social sciences, not of mathematics, medicine,. physics...
Dear mr.javonak ,thank you for your interest ,the research should be useful and helps to enhance the experience and progress,for your subject research is covering all subjects ,you need to understand the real statue of Basrah and wassit,i hope you get the point .
Dear Ihab ,your comment is correct ,mand because of corruption ,and no believe in research itself .
In addition to the very limited funding related to research, education is also still weak in the Arab world till today. These are the main cause of having a weak research in Arab countries. It is worth mentioning that research funding is very limited even in the Arab countries that are capable financially.
Dear Pr Tareq Alasadi. Thank you for this very interesting question for the Arab world.
In the Arab countries there is a major problem which is the financing of research projects by the industrial sector
Hello,
Thanks for this question.
Among the most important causes of research weakness in Arab countries is the unworthy scientific competition in the exploitation of data. some researchers in collusion with companies activating in their same area of interest take the monopoly of the data to do a copy and paste job without this source of data being acquired by researchers in a legal way just to include the names of the economical actors in reviews regardless of the result obtained and its reliability. These are generally commercial titles more than academic titles. There are doctoral students who suffer for having the data and there are who hang around for the same reason when you find names that have no relation to science mentioned in scientific articles!! Another cause is that there is no continuous funding for research projects, either the budget is low or it has been badly exploited and therefore all information and results have a price in reality and it is not always easy for researchers or their laboratory to do the best.
Regards.
Hello
I think the budget allocated to scientific research is weak compared to other countries
Rachid ZEGAIT
Dear friends ,to begin and proceed in research we need arevolution in all society that is not existed ,first we should get abasic government system ,then justice and finally to proceed in research and science.
Dear Arabic speaking colleagues,
Here are some statistics regarding research in the arab world for the 2008-2018 period of time.
Sorry for those who do not master arabic language :
https://arsco.org/article-detail-1656-8-0
All the best...
It is not a matter of financial support or lack of material, since most of the arab countries are rich. In my opinion it rather a matter of wrong management and social perturbations. In addition to that, most of our researchers think wrongly that they are not able to conduct highly qualified research projects. In another word, low self estim.
Sure, cultural revolution is needed; however, this also needs education. I believe this should start with having educated people in the government that would support, develop, and improve education. Then, and only then, we will have strong research and strong researchers. Well-educated government would look for and look after educated people including strong researchers.
@Dr-Ahmed M. Al-Baidhani. I totally agree with you. We need to reconsider our society first.
First is the Budget: look at these numbers and you will understand everything. Developed countries spend the next% of their GDP (Gross Domestic Product) South Korea (4.1%), Japan (3.5%), Germany (2.9%), The United States (2.7%) The United Kingdom ; Spain and Italy; (1.6%) Arab countries devote 0.001 to 0.2% of their GDP to scientific research. No Arab country reaches 1%, with the possible exception of one! In times of crisis, the research budget must be increased to find solutions to problems. Second: there is a whole series of causes… ..
To better understand the situation on research, I invite you to look at the following World Bank website:
https://donnees.banquemondiale.org/indicateur/GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS?locations=SA
And read the attached article on research in Arab countries (UNESCO Document). Thank you
Emeritus Professor Ahmed KETTAB
Governments of Arab countries do not spend much on education at all; therefore, we do not expect them to spend anything on research.
Maybe because people are not too interested in it. Or because there is not too much support from the public authorities. Or maybe it is because of cultural specificities.
@ Ben Boubakary, I think Education would probably solve the three issues listed in your comment. An appropriate education is really needed in the Arab countries.
As a PhD student, I think that the main reason is a lack of sophisticated materiels, in addition of the budget.
Dear Professeur Safia Belhadj
there are 22 Arab countries, some are rich as you say, but some are very poor. the question not being here. the real question is that rulers in arab countries don't put money into research. you only have to see the GDP reserved for research of these countries, and you will be amazed and surprised.
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