Igic R. "War and Scientific Output Moving Beyond War" Journal of BUON 10: 495-497, 2005

[Eugene Garfield]

igic at hektoen.org

AUTHOR : RAJKO IGIC
ARTICLE: War and Scientific Output Moving Beyond War
SOURCE : Journal of BUON 10: 495-497, 2005




ARTICLE IN FULL-TEXT REPRODUCED BELOW WITH THE KIND PERMISSION OF THE
PUBLISHER
Journal of BUON 10: 495-497, 2005
© 2005 Zerbinis Medical Publications. Printed in Greece

AND THE AUTHOR RAJKO IGIC
igic at hektoen.org


___________________________________________________________________

War and scientific output moving beyond war

R. Igic
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, John H. Stroger Jr.
Hospital of Cook County, Chicago, USA

Author and address for correspondence:
Rajko Igic, MD, PhD
E-mail: rigic at excite.com
rajko.igic at hektoen.org

Received: 15/7/2005
Accepted: 3/8/2005
Introduction

War has resulted in devastating effects on health throughout human history
[1]. Like a cancer, it destroys the normal functions of the society,
spreads rapidly leaving destruction in its wake, and is the most serious
threat to millions of lives. The effect of war on scientific output may
also be huge. It can be precisely measured by changes in the number of
papers from affected areas published in the peer-reviewed scientific
journals indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) [2]. We have recently
shown that the scientific output from a country at war in its own territory
was drastically reduced [3,4]. These data parallel the human tragedies as
well.
 The purpose of this study was to assess the damage of the civil
war, the United Nations (UN) sanctions, and NATO military interventions
during the forceful disintegration of the former Yugoslavia on scientific
output as measured by changes in the number of publications indexed in the
SCI from two of the cities that were affected, Sarajevo and Novi Sad. Also,
this study set out to follow a recovery of such damage in the postwar
period.


Methods and Results

The articles published in English from 1987 to 2003 in journals indexed in
the SCI were retrieved for the two cities from the former Yugoslavia:
Sarajevo, affected by the civil war in Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&E) from 1992
to1995, and Novi Sad, hurt by the economic sanctions (imposed in 1992 and
lifted in 2001) and by the 78-day NATO bombing in 1999. Istanbul, Turkey
and Ljubljana, Slovenia were used as controls.
 In 1987, Sarajevo, Novi Sad, Serbia, Ljubljana, and Istanbul
produced 25, 80, 321, and 133 articles, respectively. Sixteen years later,
these cities produced 31, 140, 1,548, and 2,188 articles, respectively.
Thus, in 2003, Sarajevo, Novi Sad, Ljubljana, and Istanbul produced 1.2,
1.7, 4.9, and 16.4 times more articles, respectively, than in 1987. During
the prewar period, the annual scientific output from Novi Sad and Sarajevo
gradually increased, but the output from Sarajevo declined sharply to 11
articles in 1995. The output from Novi Sad also dropped in 1994 and 1995. A
modest increase in output from these two cities followed during the postwar
period (Figure 1). The scientific output from Sarajevo has recovered very
slowly.


Discussion

The scientific output from Sarajevo and Novi Sad was reduced during the
war, and its postwar production increase was far behind the control cities.
Before the war, scientific research in the former Yugoslavia was pursued
vigorously, especially in the oldest and well-established universities of
Belgrade, Zagreb, and Ljubljana [3]. Historically, the various republics of
the former Yugoslavia had had an unequal distribution of scientific
institutions among them. To rectify this inequality, the former Yugoslavia
had opened many new universities, so that before the civil war the country
had as many as 18 universities among its various republics. Their
distribution was proportional to the population in the 6 republics of the
former Yugoslavia. Thus, Serbia had 5 universities, Croatia and B&H each
had 4, Slovenia and Macedonia each had 2, and Montenegro 1. In the late
1980s, Serbia produced more than 900 scientific articles per year and was
well ahead, with twice as many publications as Slovenia. The number of
publications from Croatia fell between that of Serbia and Slovenia [3]. The
outputs from B&H and the remaining republics had a relatively small
scientific presence. Thus, the output from B&H in 1991 was 50 articles, and
more than half of them originated from the University of Sarajevo and from
non-university institutions from Sarajevo. Although the scientific output
from the majority of the new universities was modest, some of them, such as
the University of Novi Sad, significantly increased their yearly scientific
production that before the war reached about 100 articles per year.
 The war suppressed the scientific vitality mainly in Serbia and
B&H. These former Yugoslav republics were not as scientifically productive
in the postwar period as Slovenia [4], the state that was only peripherally
involved in the civil war. The scientific production in B&H and in Serbia
was affected not only by the devastated economy, damaged communications,
and the hardship of everyday life during the war and postwar years, but
also by the exodus of many top scientists and by the lack of outside
support [5]. Using a “Salton Index” [6] to calculate the amount of
international co-authorship between scientists from Serbia, Croatia, and
Slovenia from 1986 to 1995 as well as between each of these and 5 western
countries (Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, and the USA), we
determined that Serbia seems to be scientifically relatively isolated from
1992, when the UN sanctions to this state were imposed [3] to the present
(although these sanctions were officially lifted, some of the restrictions
still remain).
 In Turkey, as in many countries, scientists are under constant
pressure to publish. This pressure forces some scientists to sacrifice
quality for quantity [7]. Even so, the pressure to publish is a stimulus
that motivates research activity. However, an increase of scientific output
generally follows national income, research budgets, academic staffs, and
international scientific communication.
 Devastated countries cannot afford to finance many scientists, as
research is a rather expensive enterprise. Therefore, in war-torn
countries, those who are responsible for financing science should select
the most promising researchers, preferably trained in developed countries
[8]. Also, because we are one intellectual community [9], researchers from
other countries should continue to survey scientific activity in the areas
affected by war and help restore and upgrade research and publication.
Scientists in the international community can aid their colleagues in the
damaged areas by maintaining communication, establishing collaborative
ventures, and offering exchange programs and advice. In addition, gifts of
scientific books and journals as well as equipment and supplies would be
welcome. As Eugene Garfield stated [9], “Supporting scientist-colleagues in
such countries is in our best interest”.
 To protect society, man must solve the problems relating to huge
differences in development, distribution of power, and natural wealth. The
international community under the auspices of the UN has to find a way to
carry out this obligation. Scientists and other scholars can force
politicians, soldiers, and diverse public workers to work toward peace and
prevention of war. Because war is a medical problem, medical doctors have a
special opportunity and obligation to fight for peace. By engaging people’s
attention to questions and possibilities that transcend all national,
religious, economic, and social differences and by providing hope for a
better future, medicine could be a powerful instrument for concord.
Gathering medical professionals from various countries to give their
opinion on this important topic, the prevention of war and other war-
related major threats to the health of global society, could be the basis
for the permanent preventive activities of our profession. Perhaps Athens,
due to its role in origin of Western civilization, could be the best place
for such gatherings that may produce a significant contribution to modern
human-rights movement that was born from the devastation of World War II.
The Declaration of Human Rights that emerged after the large scale tragedy
was signed in liberated Paris, but it has mainly remained as an empty
gesture. Thus, it is the challenge for this Century to make the Declaration
reality [10] and violence of all kinds preventable [11]. The Chilean poet,
Pablo Neruda, composed a message that sadly the majority did not get: “Oh
beautiful is this planet; I came to live in this world.”

References

1. Annas GJ. Human rights and health – The universal declaration of
human rights at 50. New Engl J Med 1998; 339: 1778-1781.
2. Igic R. Amid war, scientific publication survives in former
Yugoslav Republics. Scientist 1997; 11: 11.
3. Lewison G, Igic R. Yugoslav politics, “ethnic cleansing” and co-
authorship in science. Scientometrics 1999; 44: 183-192.
4. Igic R. The influence of the civil war in Yugoslavia on publishing
in peer-reviewed journals. Scientometrics 2002; 53: 447-452.
5. Stone R. Yugoslavia: Science goes begging in recovery package.
Science 2001; 293: 413.
6. Salton G (ed). Automatic Text Processing. Addison Wesley
Publishing, 1989.
7. Gulluoglu BM, Aktan O. Scientific publications at a Turkish medical
school. Acad Med 2000; 75: 760.
8. Igic R. Can outstanding research be done under less than ideal
conditions? Einstein J Biol Med 2003; 20: 23-27.
9. Garfield E. Essays of an Information. Scientist 1990; 11: 118-122.
10. Robinson M. Human rights. Challenges for the 21st century.
Development Dialogue 1998; 1: 5-16.
11. Cole TB, Flanagin A. Violence-ubiquitous, threatening, and
preventable. JAMA 1998; 280: 468.

 Novi Sad Sarajevo Ljubljana Istanbul


1987 80 25 321 133
 98 29 340 158
1989 115 38 363 190
 108 39 440 238
1991 117 40 444 277
 127 36 546 320
1993 123 18 579 316
 108 17 577 398
1995 113 11 633 475
 187 15 787 808
1997 141 13 931 830
 182 20 902 1000
1999 134 10 1159 1159
 137 15 1405 1230
2001 141 20 1384 1480
 124 25 1399 1821
2003 140 31 1584 2188


Figure 1.  Number of articles indexed in the SCI from Novi Sad, Sarajevo,
Ljubljana, and Istanbul.