- Email: [email protected]
Iran, sanctions, and collaborations
Correspondence
Iran, sanctions, and collaborations In their letter, Rezaee-Zavareh and colleagues1 (Jan 2, p 28) ascertained that international collaboration in medical research was comparatively scarce in Iran, possibly because of sanctions, and argued that lifting sanctions might improve the quality and quantity of Iranian scientific research. Although this argument might be true, their figure1 shows that, in 2005–14, the rate of growth of international collaboration in Iran was similar to that in Israel and Egypt, lower than that in Saudi Arabia, and greater than that in Turkey, which was not under sanctions—suggesting that sanctions in Iran did not affect such collaboration. We analysed the number of articles that were authored by scientists with an Iranian affiliation and indexed in PubMed, as well as the number of these publications in PubMed-indexed Iranian journals, published between 1970 and 2014 (figure). PubMed allows publications to be searched on the basis of the authors’ country of affiliation and the journal’s country of publication,2 although our analysis 50 000
was limited by the fact that affiliation details need to be submitted to PubMed by the publisher. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, the overall number of articles by Iranian scientists indexed in PubMed decreased only temporarily and has continued to increase since 1985, even when sanctions intensified. However, almost no articles by Iranian scientists that have been published in Iranian journals were cited or indexed in PubMed in the two decades after the revolution (figure). In the past 15 years, the number of articles cited in PubMed as published in Iranian journals has rapidly increased, and a similar number of articles were published in Iranian journals and international journals (estimated by subtracting the number of publications within Iran from the total number of articles by authors with Iranian affiliations) in 2014. Therefore, taking the place of publication into account might explain the discrepancy between Rezaee-Zavareh and colleagues’ figure1 and their conclusion. Additionally, research involving international collaboration might be published in Iranian journals.
Article with one or more authors who have an affiliation in Iran Article in a journal published in Iran
Number of articles indexed in PubMed
45 000
Scientific visibility could be related to a wide range of determinants, including political, economic, and importantly, the way that performance of scientists is assessed in each country. Policy makers adopted an approach in which scientists and universities were assessed or ranked based on science visibility indexes, including the number of publications in indexed journals.3 In the past two decades, Iran began to support the development of internationally recognised journals and use scientific production and publications as the main indicator of scientists’ performance. Such a practice has increased the number of publications by Iranian scientists. Moreover, to bypass sanctions and overcome the drop in the number of articles indexed in PubMed in the years after the revolution, Iranian scientists might have pushed for international collaboration. International sanctions might have negatively affected the publication of research by Iranian scientists, particularly after the revolution in 1979. However, development of Iranian scientific journals and a positive, encouraging approach of the international scientific community, including the editors of The Lancet,4 might have lessened the potential effects of sanctions on Iranian publications.
40 000
We declare no competing interests.
35 000
*Reza Afshari, Raj S Bhopal Addiction Research Centre, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, 9133316791, Iran (RA); Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (RA); and Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK (RSB)
25 000 20 000 15 000
1
10 000 5000
Ratio 0·03
See Editorial Lancet 2016; 387: 918
[email protected]
30 000
0 1970– 74
Published Online March 3, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(16)00628-0
2 1975– 79
1980– 84
1985– 89
1990– 94 Year
0·09
NA
49·50
156·00
1995– 99
2000– 04
2005– 09
2010– 14
NA
25·85
9·05
2·55
3
4 Figure: Number of articles cited in PubMed The ratio is calculated by dividing the number of articles with one or more authors who have an affiliation in Iran by the number of articles in Iranian journals.
www.thelancet.com Published online March 3, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00628-0
Rezaee-Zavareh MS, Karimi-Sari HR, Alavian SM. Iran, sanctions, and research collaborations. Lancet 2016; 387: 28–29. PubMed Help. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ books/NBK3827/#pubmedhelp.Affiliation_AD (accessed Jan 14, 2016). Afshari R, Monzavi SM. Qualitative versus quantitative evaluation of scientists’ impact: a medical toxicology tale. Asia Pac J Med Toxicol 2014; 3: 134–40. The Editors of The Lancet. Iran and science publishing: an open letter—Editors’ reply. Lancet 2013; 382: 596.
Submissions should be made via our electronic submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/ thelancet/
1
Iran, sanctions, and collaborations In their letter, Rezaee-Zavareh and colleagues1 (Jan 2, p 28) ascertained that international collaboration in medical research was comparatively scarce in Iran, possibly because of sanctions, and argued that lifting sanctions might improve the quality and quantity of Iranian scientific research. Although this argument might be true, their figure1 shows that, in 2005–14, the rate of growth of international collaboration in Iran was similar to that in Israel and Egypt, lower than that in Saudi Arabia, and greater than that in Turkey, which was not under sanctions—suggesting that sanctions in Iran did not affect such collaboration. We analysed the number of articles that were authored by scientists with an Iranian affiliation and indexed in PubMed, as well as the number of these publications in PubMed-indexed Iranian journals, published between 1970 and 2014 (figure). PubMed allows publications to be searched on the basis of the authors’ country of affiliation and the journal’s country of publication,2 although our analysis 50 000
was limited by the fact that affiliation details need to be submitted to PubMed by the publisher. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, the overall number of articles by Iranian scientists indexed in PubMed decreased only temporarily and has continued to increase since 1985, even when sanctions intensified. However, almost no articles by Iranian scientists that have been published in Iranian journals were cited or indexed in PubMed in the two decades after the revolution (figure). In the past 15 years, the number of articles cited in PubMed as published in Iranian journals has rapidly increased, and a similar number of articles were published in Iranian journals and international journals (estimated by subtracting the number of publications within Iran from the total number of articles by authors with Iranian affiliations) in 2014. Therefore, taking the place of publication into account might explain the discrepancy between Rezaee-Zavareh and colleagues’ figure1 and their conclusion. Additionally, research involving international collaboration might be published in Iranian journals.
Article with one or more authors who have an affiliation in Iran Article in a journal published in Iran
Number of articles indexed in PubMed
45 000
Scientific visibility could be related to a wide range of determinants, including political, economic, and importantly, the way that performance of scientists is assessed in each country. Policy makers adopted an approach in which scientists and universities were assessed or ranked based on science visibility indexes, including the number of publications in indexed journals.3 In the past two decades, Iran began to support the development of internationally recognised journals and use scientific production and publications as the main indicator of scientists’ performance. Such a practice has increased the number of publications by Iranian scientists. Moreover, to bypass sanctions and overcome the drop in the number of articles indexed in PubMed in the years after the revolution, Iranian scientists might have pushed for international collaboration. International sanctions might have negatively affected the publication of research by Iranian scientists, particularly after the revolution in 1979. However, development of Iranian scientific journals and a positive, encouraging approach of the international scientific community, including the editors of The Lancet,4 might have lessened the potential effects of sanctions on Iranian publications.
40 000
We declare no competing interests.
35 000
*Reza Afshari, Raj S Bhopal Addiction Research Centre, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, 9133316791, Iran (RA); Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (RA); and Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK (RSB)
25 000 20 000 15 000
1
10 000 5000
Ratio 0·03
See Editorial Lancet 2016; 387: 918
[email protected]
30 000
0 1970– 74
Published Online March 3, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(16)00628-0
2 1975– 79
1980– 84
1985– 89
1990– 94 Year
0·09
NA
49·50
156·00
1995– 99
2000– 04
2005– 09
2010– 14
NA
25·85
9·05
2·55
3
4 Figure: Number of articles cited in PubMed The ratio is calculated by dividing the number of articles with one or more authors who have an affiliation in Iran by the number of articles in Iranian journals.
www.thelancet.com Published online March 3, 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00628-0
Rezaee-Zavareh MS, Karimi-Sari HR, Alavian SM. Iran, sanctions, and research collaborations. Lancet 2016; 387: 28–29. PubMed Help. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ books/NBK3827/#pubmedhelp.Affiliation_AD (accessed Jan 14, 2016). Afshari R, Monzavi SM. Qualitative versus quantitative evaluation of scientists’ impact: a medical toxicology tale. Asia Pac J Med Toxicol 2014; 3: 134–40. The Editors of The Lancet. Iran and science publishing: an open letter—Editors’ reply. Lancet 2013; 382: 596.
Submissions should be made via our electronic submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/ thelancet/
1