Research Output from Palestine (1995–2012): A Bibliometric Study

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Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION & LIBRARY REVIEW, 46: 1–14, 2014
Year of Publication: 
2014
Authors: 
Suleiman Al Khalil
Current Affiliation: 
An-Najah National University
Ansam F. Sawalha
Current Affiliation: 
An-Najah National University
Sa’ed H. Zyoud and Samah W. Al-Jabi
Current Affiliation: 
An-Najah National University
Waleed M. Sweileh
Current Affiliation: 
An-Najah National University
Preferred Abstract (Original): 

Palestine is a small newly established state in theMiddle East. The objective of this studywas to
assess the quantity and quality of research output from Palestine after Oslo peace accords. The
data used for this study were retrieved from Scopus database (officially known as Sciverse Scopus).
Bibliometric analysis was used to identify the pattern of publication, relative growth rate,
authorship pattern, collaborative measures, author’s productivity, most prolific authors, and
most prolific journals. A total of 3,585 published documents were retrieved from Palestine. A
steady increase was observed after 2001. The h-index of the retrieved documents was 57. Fiftythree
(1.48%) documents were published in Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, whereas
52 (1.45%) and 49 (1.37%) documents were published in Journal of Dispersion Science and
Technology and Asian Journal of Chemistry, respectively. Half of the top 20 journals in which
Palestinian researchers had published their articles were un-indexed in Institute for Scientific
Information (ISI) web of knowledge. The highest number of documents published by a Palestinian
researcher was 79. The main subject area of published documents from Palestine was
medicine (717; 20.00%), followed by chemistry (551, 15.37%), and engineering (530, 14.78%).
The top countries involved in research collaborationwith Palestine were the United States (422,
11.70%), followed by Germany (381; 10.71%), and the United Kingdom (208; 5.83%). There
was a significant correlation between number of collaborating countries with Palestine in one
hand, and quantity and quality of research activity in Palestine on the other hand. The number of
collaborating countries with Palestine increased almost ten-fold from 1995 to 2012. Research
output from Palestine showed steady growth since the Oslo peace accords. Research output
was high from certain scientific disciplines while was lagging from others. Future emphasis
on joint research, international collaboration, and publishing in indexed journals is needed.