Abstract
A number of cost-saving novelties in seawater desalination technology over the years have transmuted this once costly option of last resort into a viable water supply alternative. The scarcity of freshwater resources and the increasing gaps between demand and supply in the arid regions continue to drive the need for desalinated water. Saudi remains one of the leaders in desalination technology and the largest producer of desalinated water. Hence, it is necessary to document the contributions of Saudi universities and various funding agencies in the development of these technologies. This study investigated research activities in the field of desalination among Saudi universities. Using the ISI Web of Science database, the word DESALINATION as a search word returned a total of 13,457 publications. The breakdown of publications based on the top 10 countries gives: USA (917), China (643), Spain (412), South Korea (307), Australia (291), Saudi Arabia (255), Israel (256), India (208), Germany (257) and England (216). The study will process all the 255 articles returned for Saudi and analyze these articles according to funding agencies, universities, type of contribution (theoretical or experimental contribution), number of authors in each publication, journal types, paper citation and year of publication.