Amman: The 2025 Arab Scientific Journals Impact and Citation Report (ARCIF), issued as its tenth annual report, confirmed the State of Qatar's advancement in the field of engineering and technology within the Arab world, based on a comprehensive monitoring of scientific production across the region.
Dr. Sami Al Khazendar, Head of the ARCIF initiative, one of the programs under the Ma'arefa Database headquartered in Amman, Jordan, explained that the new report crowns a decade of meticulous tracking of Arab scientific publications, noting that the ten-year results reflect steady growth in the volume and significance of research despite the challenges facing the region.
The ARCIF teams examined approximately 5,500 scientific journals issued by 1,500 scientific institutions in 20 Arab countries, excluding Djibouti and the Comoros, in addition to eight foreign countries publishing Arabic-language journals. Of these, 1,272 journals met 32 internationally recognized standards approved by ARCIF, Al Khazendar noted.
According to the report, data from 364,000 Arab authors were analyzed, covering more than 956,000 scientific papers, with the work of 111,000 authors being cited. Comparisons with the 2016 report showed an increase of 367 percent in the number of journals, 870 percent in the number of articles, and 6,800 percent in the number of cited Arab authors.
Dr. Al Khazendar emphasized that ARCIF has moved Arab scientific production from invisible space to global recognition, stressing that the ARCIF impact factor has become a trusted reference for measuring the influence of Arab journals according to international indicators.
He also highlighted the growing Arab awareness of the importance of publishing in Arabic to build knowledge and foster innovation.
In the overall ranking, Algeria led the Arab countries with the highest number of accredited journals (426), followed by Egypt (364), Iraq (122), Saudi Arabia (75), and Jordan (45). In terms of the general impact factor, Egypt ranked first, followed by Saudi Arabia.
At the specialized level, Qatar led in engineering and technology, while Egypt topped the fields of economics, social sciences, education, law, and media. Saudi Arabia led 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 index of cited authors, Algeria ranked first with 26,834 authors, followed by Egypt with 21,988, Iraq with 21,367, Saudi Arabia with 10,712, and Jordan with 6,098, with a notable increase in the number of cited Arab researchers across the region.
The digital edition of the 2025 report will be available on the ARCIF website (http://emarefa.net/arcif) before the end of 2025, providing researchers and policymakers with the latest data on the Arab scientific publishing landscape.
The ARCIF impact factor operates under the supervision of a Coordinating Council that includes representatives from the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States in Beirut, ESCWA, and the Ma'arefa Database, alongside a scientific committee composed of Arab and international experts and academics from several Arab countries and the United Kingdom.
