Riyadh, Apr. 19, 2022, SPA-- Saudi universities have contributed 93% of the national output of scientific research, consolidating the efforts of the Ministry of Education to support the research and innovation system, translating its pivotal role in the transformation towards a sustainable knowledge-based economy, and meeting the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The Kingdom is witnessing an increasing growth in the number of scientific research published by public universities, as the latest figures indicate a hike in the rate of scientific research publication in 2021 to 104%, compared to the period before the activation of the quality initiatives launched by the Ministry to support research, development and innovation such as institutional funding and research and innovation partnerships, in addition to the improvement in the quality of research published in Q1 scientifically classified journals by 247%. The ministry’s initiatives also contributed to an increase in the number of active researchers by 75% during the same period in question. The Kingdom has made remarkable progress during the past four years, jumping forward 10 places, ranking 25th place globally and first in the Arab world in the field of scientific publishing, according to the Scimago Index. Moreover, national universities have also achieved an outstanding increase in the number of published scientific research, bringing their total number to more than 57,000 . —SPA 03:33 LOCAL TIME 00:33 GMT 0006 www.spa.gov.sa/w1722819