## 3 Results  
### Overview of EO Studies in the EMMENA Region  
The total number of publications on EO applications in the EMMENA region from 2018 to 2022 was 7076. Following the exclusion of articles not written in the English language and not having a digital object identifier (DOI), the total number of publications dropped to 6647 (Figure 3); 1291 of these studies had a regional geographic focus, extending beyond country borders. The geographic focus of most publications was on Iran (1883 publications), while EO studies in Bahrain were the least common (10 publications). Similarly, for the author affiliation country (Table 2), Iran has the highest (2186) and Bahrain has the lowest (14) number of affiliations. However, 44.8% of the authors' affiliations are not within the EMMENA region. Considering the population of each country, Cyprus has the highest author affiliation number per capita (770 per 1 million people). Countries that are suffering from political and military conflicts, such as Libya and Yemen, have the lowest author affiliation number per capita (7 and 13, respectively). This is also mirrored in the low per capita GDP of these countries (Table 2). The list with the 6647 publications including author name, article title, author keywords and addresses, citations, and DOI is presented in the Supplementary Materials (Table S1). The 10 institutions with the highest number of affiliations (authors and co-authors) as identified in the EO publications in the EMMENA region are the following: University of Tehran (416 records), Islamic Azad University (346 records), Tarbiat Modares University (196 records), National Authority for Remote Sensing Sciences--NARSS (173 records), Shiraz University (167 records), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique--CNRS (166 records), University of Tabriz (157 records), King Abdulaziz University (149 records), Istanbul Technical University (137 records), and Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology (122 records). Six out of ten of these institutions are in Iran. The 25 authors with the highest number of publications focusing in the EMMENA region are shown in Figure 4. Twelve of these authors have affiliation in countries not included in the EMMENA region (Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and the USA). Ten authors have affiliations in Iran (Shiraz University, University of Kurdistan, Tarbiat Modares University, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, University of Tabriz, Isfahan University of Technology, and Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University). The remaining three authors are affiliated with Morocco (Mohammed VI Polytechnic University), Cyprus (Cyprus University of Technology), and Saudi Arabia (King Abdul Aziz University). The funding agency with the highest number of funded articles (145) is the Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Turkey (Figure 5), followed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (108 articles) and the European Commission (104 articles). The list with the top ten funding agencies contains five more organizations which are outside the EMMENA region, namely the German Research Foundation (Germany), UK Research and Innovation (UK), the National Science Foundation (USA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (USA), and the Natural Environment Research Council (UK). Big Earth data is the thematic area with the highest contribution (27.1%) of EO research carried out in the EMMENA region, followed by land (21.6%), disaster risk reduction (15.5%), water (15.1%), atmosphere (8.6%), agriculture (5.8%), and energy (4.1%) (Figure 6). Surprisingly, while most of the EMMENA region countries are surrounded by sea, marine safety and security has the lowest contribution of EO research carried out in the EMMENA region (0.9%). Also, the EMMENA region is characterized by a long history and cultural  
Figure 4: Top 25 authors with highest number of publications for papers on EO in the EMMENA region.