Editorial: 21 Suggestions that Help Arab Journals Entre the 21st Century

(Abdulrahman Essa Al Lily and Abdelrahim Fathy Ismail)

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Abstract

This article offers 21 suggestions that help Arab journals entre the 21st century. The first is employing a strategic planner for the journal. The second is deriving detailed statistics from the journal's activity. The third is measuring authors’ satisfaction through surveys, interviews and tweets about the journal. The fourth is ensuring that references are perfectly formatted. The fifth is ‘romanising’ and translating Arab references. The sixth is implementing an online submission system. The seventh is setting benchmarks against top journals. The eighth is presenting all author details (including bios) in articles. The ninth is ensuring that the journal website is professionally designed and has all the information that authors need. The tenth is accepting unconventional ideas, perspective articles and commentaries. The eleventh is granting reviewers certificates. The twelfth is having geographically diverse consulting editors. The thirteenth is reducing the word limit. The fourteenth is publishing editorials. The fifteenth is having detailed submission instructions. The sixteenth is fighting plagiarism. The seventeenth is having special issues. The eighteenth is increasing the number of articles per issues and the number of issues per volume. The nineteenth is reducing the time from submission to publication. The twentieth is granting manuscripts DOIs. The twenty-first is immediately publishing manuscript once accepted, by having an OnlineFirst section.

KEYWORDS
Arabic academic writing, Arab academia, Arab publication


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