The latest 2025 Arab Scientific Journals Impact and Citation Report (ARCIF) has confirmed that the State of Qatar has emerged as a leader in engineering and technology across the Arab world. This assessment is based on thorough monitoring of scientific output throughout the region.
According to Dr. Sami Al Khazendar, head of the ARCIF initiative based at the Ma”arefa Database in Amman, Jordan, this report marks a significant milestone after a decade of tracking scientific publications in the Arab region. He pointed out that the results over the past ten years demonstrate consistent growth in both the quantity and quality of research despite various regional challenges.
The ARCIF team evaluated around 5,500 scientific journals published by approximately 1,500 institutions across 20 Arab countries, with the exceptions of Djibouti and the Comoros, as well as eight foreign nations producing Arabic-language journals. Of these, 1,272 journals met the 32 internationally recognized standards set by ARCIF.
The report analyzed contributions from 364,000 Arab authors, encompassing over 956,000 scientific papers, with citations attributed to the works of 111,000 authors. Comparisons with the 2016 report indicate a striking increase: the number of journals has risen by 367 percent, the number of articles by 870 percent, and the number of cited Arab authors by 6,800 percent.
Dr. Al Khazendar emphasized that ARCIF has elevated Arab scientific production from obscurity to global prominence, asserting that the ARCIF impact factor is now a respected benchmark for gauging the influence of Arab journals according to international metrics. He also noted the increasing recognition among Arab scholars of the necessity to publish in Arabic to enhance knowledge and stimulate innovation.
In the overall rankings, Algeria topped the list of Arab countries with the largest number of accredited journals at 426, followed by Egypt with 364, Iraq with 122, Saudi Arabia with 75, and Jordan with 45. With respect to general impact factors, Egypt ranked first, closely followed by Saudi Arabia.
Qatar excelled in the fields of engineering and technology, while Egypt led in economics, social sciences, education, law, and media. Saudi Arabia was recognized for its contributions to Arabic language and literature, and Palestine achieved the top position in the Immediacy Index through the Palestinian Journal of Open Education and e-Learning.
In terms of cited authors, Algeria again ranked highest with 26,834 authors, followed by Egypt with 21,988, Iraq with 21,367, Saudi Arabia with 10,712, and Jordan with 6,098. This showcases a significant increase in the number of cited Arab researchers throughout the region.
The digital edition of the 2025 report will be accessible on the ARCIF website (http://emarefa.net/arcif) before the end of 2025, providing researchers and policymakers with the most recent insights into the Arab scientific publishing landscape.
The ARCIF impact factor is managed by a Coordinating Council that includes representatives from the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States in Beirut, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), and the Ma”arefa Database, alongside a scientific committee composed of Arab and international experts from various Arab nations and the United Kingdom.
