Table 3 Pearson correlation coefficient between GDP per capita, spending on R&D as % of total GDP, number of medical schools/medical universities and total number of research publication and medical education publications in ISI web of Science among GCC countries

GDP per capita US$

r² = 0.108

r² = 0.099

p = 0.524

p = 0.543

Spending on R&D

r² = 0.106

r² = 0.080

p = 0.529

p = 0.585

Medical Schools/Medical Universities

r² = 0.976

r² = 0.986

p = 0.0001

p = 0.0001