Arab Spring’s impact on science through the lens of scholarly attention, funding, and migration

Abstract The 2010–2011 Arab Spring reverberated far beyond politics, reshaping how the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is studied. Analyzing 3.6 million Scopus-indexed articles published between 2002 and 2019, we find that mentions of ten of these countries in titles or abstracts rose significantly after 2011 relative to the global baseline, with Egypt receiving the greatest attention in the region. We link this surge to two intertwined mechanisms: an increase in research funding directed to the MENA region and the emigration of researchers who continued publishing about their countries of origin. Our analysis reveals that Saudi Arabia has emerged as a regional hub for research on the target countries, providing funding and attracting scholars and thereby playing a significant role in shaping the scientific narrative on the region. These findings demonstrate how political upheaval can reshape global knowledge flows by altering who studies whom, with what resources, and in which disciplines.