Sir

The decision made by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, that only countries committed to donating funds will be allowed to join its standing committee on science and technology, is laudable and newsworthy. However, it hardly justifies the News in Brief headline 'Muslim nations raise status of science' (Nature 452, 517; 2008). A News Feature in the same issue reports the establishment of a research centre in Lisbon, made possible by the donation of half a billion euros (US$782 million) by a single Portuguese philanthropist ('Navigating new waters' Nature 452, 528–529; 2008).

Nations are made up of individuals as well as governments. If governments in some Muslim states are not supporting science, why don't a few wealthy individuals step in? And if they did, would competent researchers, securely employed in a scientifically vigorous milieu, be willing to take up residence in the organization's member countries?

As your News Feature suggests, good scientists will go to Lisbon only if conditions are better than those elsewhere. The same applies even more forcefully to the Islamic countries, because conditions conducive to intellectual autonomy and scientific progress require more than a mere injection of capital. In Portugal, democracy needed to mature after the bloodless 'carnation revolution' in the 1970s ended a long spell of dictatorship.