CIVIL WAR AND SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY
IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLICS

Rajiko Igic
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Cook County Hospital, Chicago, IL 60612, USA

Objective: The aim was to assess the number of scientific publications from the Yugoslav republics before, during, and after the civil war that lasted from 1991 to 1995.

Design:The number of articles published in the journals indexed by the Science Citation Index (SCI) from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro were counted for each year from 1988 to 1996.

Results: In 1988, scientists and researchers in the former Yugoslavia published 2,197 papers in journals that are indexed in SCI, with an average annual increase of 18% over the next 2 years. Of these publications, Serbia produced 42%, Croatia 32%, Slovenia 20%, Bosnia-Herzegovina 3%, Macedonia 2.5%, and Montenegro 0.5%. During the years of war, the number of publications dropped significantly in 2 republics, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. The lowest production occurred in 1994, when the number of published papers dropped in 4 republics: Bosnia-Herzegovina (36% of prewar volume), Montenegro (36%), Serbia (69%), and Croatia (92%). In 1994, the volume of published papers was higher in Slovenia and Macedonia. In 1996, the first postwar year, there was slight decline or stagnation in the volume of published papers in comparison to the previous year in all republics. The majority of these papers were published in foreign (international) journals. In 1988 and 1989, 5 Yugoslav journals were indexed in the SCI (3 from Croatia, 2 from Serbia); from 1990 to 1993 3 journals from Croatia were indexed; and from 1994 only 1 journal from Croatia was indexed.

Conclusions: (1) Scientific output was hindered by the civil war. Scientific productivity dropped sharply in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia due to the war. The first republic was an arena of the war, while Serbia was under the sanctions of the United Nations. (2) The civil war did not influence scientific productivity in Slovenia and Macedonia. (3) Scientific publication in Croatia was not reduced during the war years because the war zones were in Serb-populated regions of Croatia, where scientific activity was practically nil before the war. (4) In the first postwar year there was stagnation of scientific publication in all former Yugoslav republics. (5) These Balkan nations will peaceably move forward-both scientifically and culturally-with the help of international community (Andri I. The Bridge on the Drina. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, Ill; 1977). All scientists, as Garfield states, "are one intellectual community," and researchers from other countries worldwide should help to restore and upgrade research and publication in the affected regions (Current Contents. 1988;16:3-7).

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