Geopolitical Changes and Trends in Middle Eastern Countries’ Contributions to World Science over the Past Three Decades

It is an inconvenient truth that for many people tragedy, violence, and bloodshed are more attractive than routine daily peaceful life, hence the journalistic mantra “if it bleeds, it leads.” The Middle East, also known as “the cradle of civilization,” is usually called “the cross-roads of the world” and appears prominently in the media for its long-lasting geopolitical turmoil. Consequently, images of bloodshed dominate the Western imagination of the region. These changes, however, have seriously affected science production so that one cannot study the science growth of the region without considering its geopolitical changes.