Tapping into intra- and international collaborations of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation states across science and technology disciplines

This study analyzes the intra- and international collaboration of 11 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in science and technology (S&T) disciplines in the period 1996–2010, by applying various bibliometric indicators along with publication and citation counts and our proposed average collaboration strength index, that measures the intra-collaboration strength of a region. The quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that the OIC states are making impressive progress in all S&T disciplines, but it is still low compared to the EU and Association of Southeast Asian Nations regions. The OIC states must come up with short- and long-term plans to become more progressive and competitive with the rest of the world. Moreover, special attention needs to be given to improving the status of international collaboration with the outside world. This study provides useful information for the scientific community, as well as for technology and innovation policy-makers.