International technical collaboration has been an essential element in the development of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. After the discovery of oil in the 1930s, American technology started the change in the fortunes and future of the region. The Arabian peninsula underwent dramatic changes as the oil economy heralded new kinds of international technology partnerships. Foreign engineers, architects, and expatriate labor transformed the region with imported technology into a constellation of new metropolises, skyscrapers, and modern infrastructure. The GCC states – now increasingly aware of the limits of their fossil-fuel powered economies for the 21st century and rapidly changing demographics where the youth now form the majority – are embarking on efforts of economic diversification. One key focus is on building up a local scientific and technological research base to drive future industrial growth. The governments have set up a number of new international partnerships with the aim of strengthening national capacity in research and innovation and gaining a foothold in the global scientific arena.

In this chapter, we analyze research collaboration in the GCC, through a detailed bibliometric analysis of co-authorship data of scientific publications over three decades from 1981 to 2013. The data reflects collaboration between individual scientists and researchers. Joint publications result from a variety of factors ranging from mutual research interest of collaborating scientists to mandatory outputs resulting from bilateral agreements between institutions (Glanzel 2001). International collaborations span different types of channels (such as dual-degree programs, students and teacher exchange, internships, as well as research projects) and publications data is only a partial measure of the extent and type of collaborative activities. Bibliometric analysis, however, uses verifiable and traceable data and a systematic approach for gaining important insights on scientific research output and coauthorship trends. Here, we conduct a long-time series analysis, of data ranging from 1981 to 2013, to characterize how collaborative publications trends have evolved in the GCC and in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, how the present patterns compare with the past, and what the implications maybe for future regional development.

An Opportunity to Study the Emergence and Evolution of Research Collaborations in the GCC

The first technical education programs were established in the region in the 1950s, and new institutions continued to emerge through the 1960s and beyond. It was, however, at the transition of this century, when visible and markedly faster pace of government efforts became apparent.