Sharjah wants to be read as a serious centre for medical research, and a new report gives it the numbers to make that case. Sharjah 24 reported that the study was unveiled at the emirate’s first Sharjah Next: Healthcare summit in October 2025. It came out under the patronage of the Ruler of Sharjah, His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, who signed a Nature-branded issue marking the work. Her Highness Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, President and Chairperson of SPARK, also attended. Produced as Nature Research Intelligence, the report is the first systematic audit of Sharjah’s research output.
Sharjah’s research output across three domains
Dr Asma Mahmoud Fikri, Director of Government and Corporate Partnerships at the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park, known as SPARK, initiated the analysis. It sorts the emirate’s work into three domains. Unlocking the Brain covers neuroscience, The Powerhouse covers cardiovascular and metabolic health, and Systems of Life covers diagnostics and precision medicine. Across the three, Sharjah 24 reported 2,143 publications drawing almost 28,000 citations. Nearly a fifth of that work, 19.8 per cent, sits in the top 10 per cent of the most-cited research worldwide. Most of it comes from two universities, the University of Sharjah and the American University of Sharjah, whose output has grown at compound annual rates of up to 24.9 per cent since 2020.
Neuroscience leads the Sharjah numbers
Neuroscience is the strongest of the three domains. Sharjah 24 reported 985 publications under Unlocking the Brain, drawing almost 12,000 citations, with 18.6 per cent reaching the global top tier. One AI system for brain tumour detection was cited at a 99.8 per cent accuracy rate, and Alzheimer’s research output is projected to grow by 67 per cent. This is a credible anchor for a medical tourism pitch. Complex neurological cases are hard to treat and high in value, and they are exactly the cases that push patients across borders when a home system cannot cope. Research depth does not by itself make a destination, but it does signal the specialist expertise that international patients screen for.
Cardiovascular and precision medicine fill out the base
The Powerhouse covers cardiovascular and metabolic health. Sharjah 24 reported 616 publications in that domain, growing at 16.9 per cent a year, with 18.3 per cent in the global top tier. That work spans the link between diabetes and heart disease and the use of AI in cardiac diagnostics, both of which matter for a Gulf population with high rates of metabolic disease. Systems of Life covers diagnostics and precision medicine, with 542 publications growing at 18.5 per cent a year, spanning cancer biomarkers, genomics and AI diagnostics. Precision medicine is where research and clinical revenue meet fastest, because biomarker and genomic work feeds straight into diagnostics that can be sold to international patients.
Translation is where research becomes a destination
To show the science is being applied rather than shelved, the report leaned on patent citation. Sharjah 24 reported 32.3 patent citations per 1,000 publications for Alzheimer’s research, and 39.6 per 1,000 for glioblastoma research. Translation is the right thing to measure. A destination is built on treatments patients can actually receive, not on citation counts, and the gap between a well-cited paper and a bookable procedure is where most research-led plans stall. The patent signal is real, and the study still measures papers. Clinics, accreditation and patient pathways are a separate build these numbers do not yet describe.
Sharjah’s weight in the UAE and abroad
The report put Sharjah’s institutions behind 14.1 per cent of the UAE’s total healthcare research, a large share for such a small academic base. It found collaboration across more than 20 countries, including ties with Cornell University and Johns Hopkins University. HE Hussain Al Mahmoudi, CEO of SPARK, said the study validated a strategy to position Sharjah as “a global healthcare innovation destination”. Dr Fikri called the findings a shift in the Middle East’s role in medical research. Growth may come next in several areas, as multiple sclerosis research is projected to grow by 78 per cent, AI applications in healthcare by 40 to 50 per cent, and precision medicine tools by 35 to 45 per cent.
Gulf patients and the case for keeping care at home
There is a nearer prize than inbound medical tourism, and the report does not name it. Gulf patients with complex neurological or oncological disease have long travelled to Europe and the United States for care that was not available at home, which is one of the five reasons patients cross a border at all. A research base of this depth gives Sharjah a case for treating more of those patients inside the emirate before it competes for foreign ones, a shift that would retain spending that currently leaves the country. That import-substitution step is less glamorous than a global-destination pitch, and it is the one the neuroscience and precision-medicine numbers most directly support. The stakeholder who acts on it first is the emirate’s own health authority, since domestic referral is a policy lever before it is a marketing one.
What the Sharjah numbers do and do not show
The analysis drew on Dimensions, a database of more than 159 million publications and 170 million patents across over 200 fields. The study covered outputs from January 2020 to mid-August 2025. That is a solid base, and the growth rates are real. The report shows Sharjah has built genuine research depth in neuroscience, heart medicine and precision medicine, and that the work is being cited and, in places, patented. What it does not show is that Sharjah is yet a medical tourism destination, because that rests on hospital capacity, accreditation and patient pathways rather than publication counts. The research base is the harder half to fake, and Sharjah now has it. Turning that expertise into treatments international patients can book is the work the summit was convened to start.
