The Arab worldNew portal to serve as a forum for the Arab world's scientific community
The Arab world has a rich and impressive history of scientific inquiry, and during the Golden Age of science Arab scientists contributed great discoveries and inventions such as algebra, optics, medicine, and many others; indeed, for more than 500 years Arabic was the language of science; for a variety of historical and political reasons, the Arab world lost the position of scientific preeminence it had enjoyed, but the potential of the Arab world’s contribution to science has not disappeared, and the prestigious journal Nature has recognized this fact by launching a new portal, Nature Middle East
Nature Middle East's new logo // Source: nature.com
The Arab world has a rich and impressive history of scientific inquiry. During the Golden Age of Science, the Arab world was influenced by texts from neighboring regions of Greece, Persia, and India, and built on them with great discoveries and inventions such as algebra, optics, medicine, and many others. Indeed, for more than 500 years Arabic was the language of science. Following translation into Latin, Arabic scholarship fed back to these neighboring regions and to a large extent laid the foundation for the European enlightenment and current Western science.
For a variety of historical and political reasons, the Arab world lost the position of scientific preeminence it had enjoyed, and other regions — Europe, North America, East Asia, South Asia — have leapt-frog it.
The legacy of colonialism, oppressive regimes in some countries, stifling religious imposition in other countries, broken educational systems, and depressed standard of living have all contributed to the retreat of the Arab world. The potential of the Arab world’s contribution to science has not disappeared, though, and the prestigious journal Nature has recognized this fact by launching a new portal, Nature Middle East.
Nature Middle East “has been created with an understanding of the potential of the Arab world to once again be an important center of science,” the mission statement reads.
It will cover a diverse group of eighteen nations: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. “Nature Middle East is about recognizing the contribution of many different peoples working together, united by a common language,” the founders say.
Nature Middle East is a comprehensive portal site for information on scientific and medical research in the Arabic-speaking Middle East, the research community, and its activities. It is a site with a broad scope that caters for scientific and medical researchers at all levels, from students to post-doctoral fellows to principal investigators. Most importantly, Nature Middle East will be a unique online platform for the scientific and medical research community to connect, network and exchange information or ideas, to promote good science and stimulate research and debate.
The editor of Nature Middle East is Mohammed Yahia. He graduated from Cairo University with a bachelor degree in Pharmacy and Pharmacology, and served as reporter and editor for the Health & Science section at IslamOnline.net. Before joining Nature Middle East, Yahia was the MENA region coordinator for the Web site SciDev.Net.
