The 2025 Arab Scientific Journals Impact and Citation Report (ARCIF) has revealed that the State of Qatar is at the forefront of engineering and technology within the Arab world. This conclusion comes from a detailed analysis of scientific output across the region, marking the tenth annual report from ARCIF.
Dr. Sami Al Khazendar, the head of the ARCIF initiative based in Amman, Jordan, explained that this report culminates a decade of thorough monitoring of Arab scientific publications. He noted that the findings over the past ten years indicate consistent growth in both the volume and impact of research, despite ongoing challenges in the region.
The ARCIF teams assessed around 5,500 scientific journals from 1,500 scientific institutions in 20 Arab countries, excluding Djibouti and the Comoros, as well as eight foreign nations publishing Arabic-language journals. Of these, 1,272 journals met 32 internationally recognized standards set by ARCIF.
The report analyzed data from 364,000 Arab authors, covering more than 956,000 scientific papers, with citations attributed to 111,000 authors. When compared to the 2016 report, there was a remarkable increase of 367 percent in the number of journals, 870 percent in articles published, and 6,800 percent in the number of cited Arab authors.
Dr. Al Khazendar emphasized that ARCIF has elevated Arab scientific production from obscurity to global acknowledgment, asserting that the ARCIF impact factor has become a reliable benchmark for gauging the influence of Arab journals against international standards.
He also pointed out the increasing recognition among Arab scholars of the need to publish in Arabic to enhance knowledge and innovation. In the overall rankings, Algeria topped the list with the most accredited journals at 426, followed by Egypt with 364, Iraq with 122, Saudi Arabia with 75, and Jordan with 45.
Regarding the general impact factor, Egypt secured the top position, followed closely by Saudi Arabia. In specialized fields, Qatar excelled in engineering and technology, while Egypt led in economics, social sciences, education, law, and media. Saudi Arabia was recognized for its strength in Arabic language and literature, while Palestine achieved first place in the Immediacy Index through the Palestinian Journal of Open Education and e-Learning.
In the authors” citation index, Algeria 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 demonstrates a noteworthy increase in the number of cited Arab researchers across the region.
The digital edition of the 2025 report is expected to be available on the ARCIF website (http://emarefa.net/arcif) before the end of 2025, providing researchers and policymakers with updated insights into the landscape of Arab scientific publishing.
The operation of the ARCIF impact factor is overseen by a Coordinating Council that includes representatives from the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States located in Beirut, ESCWA, and the Ma”arefa Database, along with a scientific committee made up of Arab and international experts and academics from various Arab nations and the United Kingdom.
