Impact of United States political sanctions on international collaborations and research in Iran

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Fatemeh,Miller,Andrew C,Bashar,Farshid R,Salesi,Mahmood,Zarchi,Ali A K,K Kokabisaghi (Creator)
Institution
East Carolina University (ECU )
Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: International research collaborations improve individual,institutional and governmental capacities to respondto health crises and inequalities but may be greatlyaffected by political environments. Iran ranks highlyin tertiary education, productivity growth, knowledgeimpact and successful patent applications. In manycountries, economic hardship has correlated withincreased international research collaborations. Somehave hypothesised that financial constraint drives scholarsto seek outside collaborations for cost and risk sharing,and to access funding, materials and patient populationsotherwise unavailable. This paper explores the historyand importance of US political sanctions on the healthof Iran"s academic sector. Although Iran"s internationalresearch collaborations increased during periods ofincreased sanctions, the Pearson correlation coefficientbetween gross domestic product and internationalresearch collaborations was not significant (r=0.183,p=0.417). This indicates that other factors are at least inpart responsible. Additionally, we found Iran"s quantitative(eg, publication number) and qualitative (eg, visibilityindices) publishing metrics to be discordant (two-tailedMann--Kendall trend; p<0.0002 for both). Reasons for thisare multifactorial, including increased indexing of Iranianjournals, willingness of lower visibility journals to handlemanuscripts with Iranian authors, widespread linkageof career advancement to science visibility indices, andothers. During periods of increased sanctions, Iranianscholars were increasingly denied opportunities to publishscientific findings, attend scientific meetings, access toessential medical and laboratory supplies and informationresources. We conclude that academic boycotts violateresearchers" freedom and curtail progress. Free exchangeof ideas irrespective of creed is needed to optimize globalscientific progress.

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Publication
Other
Language: English
Date: 2019

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Impact of United States political sanctions on international collaborations and research in Iranhttp://hdl.handle.net/10342/8127The described resource references, cites, or otherwise points to the related resource.