The Investigation of Scientific Publications of Middle East Countries in SSCI over the Past 30 Years

The present study aimed to determine the scientific situation of Middle East countries in Social Sciences. The scientific publications of Middle East countries indexed in SSCI and published during 1980 to 2009 were examined. The findings show that a small share of world's scientific publications in SSCI belongs to Middle East countries. Turkey, Iran and Egypt are ranked first to third based on their scientific productions in SSCI. In terms of annual growth rate, UAE (16.4%) has got the highest growth rate during 30 years and Turkey and Iran are ranked second and third among the countries of region. These countries have widely cooperated with the other countries of the world, particularly with Western Developed countries. Most publications of these countries have been published in the areas of psychology, management, economics, and occupational and environmental health.