January 2011 / Andrew Plume
A rebirth of science in Islamic countries?
The Islamic Golden Age a period that spanned the 7th to the 13th centuries A.D. saw a flourishing of scholarship in the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, which at their greatest extent stretched across North Africa and the Middle East. Contrary to traditional views of Islamic science in this era as a mere preserver of ancient knowledge from Greek and Roman sources, the Golden Age is now understood by scholars to have laid the foundations of modern science hundreds of years before the Scientific Revolution that began in Europe in the 16th century. The Islamic Golden Age produced important empirical discoveries in optics, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics (including the invention of algebra) and medicine and Muslim doctors even invented a form of medical peer review, in which visiting physicians filed their patient case notes with a panel of local doctors, who then reviewed the standard of care.
Shifting sands: Reawakening a scholarly tradition
The Golden Age eventually ended as a result of instability brought about by the Crusades from the West and Mongol invasions from the East. After centuries in the doldrums, is it now possible that a new wind has begun to blow in favor of Islamic science (that is, scientific research originating from the Islamic world; see below)?
The map of the Islamic world has shifted since the days of the Caliphs. Since 1969, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has represented the interests of self-identifying Muslim nations of the world. Membership currently stands at 57 countries, and for the purposes of this article these will be considered as defining the modern Islamic world.
In the Golden Age, Baghdad was the political capital and seat of learning of the Abbasid Caliphate. At its intellectual heart was the House of Wisdom. This library and translation institute was destroyed in the Mongol sacking of Baghdad in 1238, during which priceless manuscripts were thrown into the River Tigris in such quantities that the waters were said to have run black with the ink from their pages.
Today, Baghdad remains the center of scientific production in Iraq, with the University of Baghdad accounting for almost 20% of the 1,281 articles produced in Iraq in the period 200408. However, todays premier knowledge-producing institute across all OIC countries is the University of Tehran in Iran, with well over 1,500 articles published in the journal literature covered in Scopus. Although only inaugurated in 1934, the University of Tehran draws on a tradition of higher education stretching back over many centuries.
Iranian science in focus
Of all of the OIC countries, Iran best exemplifies the renewed spirit of scientific enquiry (as previously featured in Research Trends in December 2009). Indeed, measures of both input and output into the research system are showing very positive trends: Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) rose from 0.55% to 0.67% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2001 and 2006, ranking it among the strongest performers in the OIC on this statistic in recent years (see Table 1).
Country Year GERD as a percentage of GDP
Tunisia 2005 1.02
Turkey 2007 0.72
Pakistan 2007 0.67
Iran 2006 0.67
Morocco 2006 0.64
Malaysia 2006 0.64
Mozambique 2006 0.53
Uganda 2007 0.39
Sudan 2005 0.29
Kyrgyzstan 2007 0.23
Egypt 2007 0.23
Kazakhstan 2008 0.22
Azerbaijan 2007 0.17
Burkina Faso 2007 0.11
Senegal 2005 0.09
Kuwait 2007 0.09
Algeria 2005 0.07
Tajikistan 2007 0.06
Indonesia 2005 0.05
Saudi Arabia 2007 0.05
Table 1 GERD as a percentage of GDP for selected OIC countries in most recent year for which data are available. Source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics, Science & Technology Reports.
In terms of output, Iran has progressed from a low base of publications in the international journal literature of just 5,034 in 1996 to 20,244 in 2008. This 18-fold relative increase outstrips that of any other country in the OIC (see Figure 1). Moreover, Iran has matched this increase in output with an increase in field-weighted citation impact over the same period, as have several other OIC member states (see Figure 2).
how pathetic
keep it up iran, hopefully though science people will see that religion is total batshit
