1. Refereed Academic Journals in the
United Arab Emirates
An evaluation study of their compliance with the
Standard Specifications of the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO)
By
Asma’a S. Assim
Supervised by
Professor Dr. Jassim M. Jirjees Ph.D.
The U.A.E Libraries Symposium

2. An evaluation study aiming to identify compliance of the refereed
journals published by academic universities in the United Arab
Emirates with the standard specifications developed by the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
The degree of compliance of these journals with the standards
was satisfactory by an average score of very good category in
general.
80% Complied
20% not complied

3. Journals are considered
An important channel of communication
An important source for information
Breaks language barriers
Breaks social and economic barriers
Breaks the digital divide barrier
Academics are facing great changes as
electronic access to information is increasing
It is important for Academic Institutions to consider:
•Establishing electronic publications
•investigate current technologies available
•copyright, access
•coordination between libraries
•How standards can help in this process Investigate

4. Definitions
Refereed Journals
Refereed journals are publications reviewed by experts or
referees
prior to the publication of the material.
Refereed journals are also referred to as peer reviewed.
They assure the users that the information is reliable
ISO Standards
•ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world’s
largest developer of voluntary International standards, founded in 1947.
•ISO is an independent, non-governmental organization made up
of members from the National standards bodies of 162 countries.
•Published more than 19,500 International Standards
covering almost all aspects of technology and business.
For the purpose of this study the researcher chose the standards that
describe the documentation presentation of periodicals. This standard
consists of elements and sets out rules intended to enable editors and
publishers to present periodicals in a form which will facilitate their use.

5. The degree of compliance of academic refereed
journals with the ISO standards.
Establish scientific basis in improving and rectifying the weaknesses
already existing in publishing refereed journals
The United Arab Emirates refereed journals published by
academic institutions abided by the ISO standards that are
related to the documentation and presentation of periodicals.

6. Statement of the problem
The consequences when publishing refereed journals without
abiding the ISO standards rules, and how does that affect study
and research.
Limitations of the study
Objective Limits:
The nature of the refereed journals and not the nature of articles.
Geographical Limits:
Refereed journals published by the United Arab
Emirates academic institutions.
Time Limits:
The latest issue published during the last
five years.

7. Literature review
Publishing refereed journals in the Arab world still is in its development stage.
Many of them discontinue publication because of financial problems, and other
barriers that discourage researchers and writers to submit or even try to publish their
articles and studies.
Publishing refereed journals in the United Arab Emirates started at a later stage
compared to other Arab countries.
Many academic institutions started publishing electronic refereed journals, and
diverting it’s journals to electronic along with the print copy.
A study by Jirjees, M. Jassim(1996) titled Journals of Iraqi Universities: an
analytical study, aimed to find out the degree to which the Iraqi University
periodicals follow the periodicals specifications assigned by ISO. The results
of this study showed that the periodicals under study follow the
specifications to a large degree around 75% and that the periodicals of pure
and applied sciences follow the specifications to a large degree than those of
social and human sciences.

8. Literature review
For the Jordanian journals in general, a study was done by Jassim, M. Jirjees
and Abdul Nabi, J (1997) in which they exposed that the compliance degree of
Jordanian journals with the International Standards was poor and beyond the
required level. The general average of performance of those journals scored
48%.
As for Syria, a study was conducted by Bakla, M. Zuhair (1990) in
which he exposed that the compliance degree of Syrian journals with
the International Standards was generally very good as the general
average of performance of those journals scored 71%.

9. Methodology and Data collection approach
Descriptive analytical approach
Three integrated stages:

10. Data Collection approach

11. Conclusions:
The United Arab Emirates refereed
journals with the ISO Standards
specifications achieved an average of
very good 80%.
• Full compliance related to the standards for three elements: running title,
abstracts, and special cases.
• Very good compliance related to the standards for four elements: date,
pagination, title of periodical, and layout.
• Good compliance related to the standards for two elements: numbering, and
index.
• Poor compliance related to the standards for two elements: volume, and issue.
Publishing electronic journals in general and electronic academic refereed
journals in particular is still in its early stages

12. Recommendations:
Academic Institutions that publish refereed journals should start taking
into consideration applying the standards that have never been
put in place, followed by those whose degree of compliance was poor or very
poor.
Encourage academic institutions to start on publishing electronic journals to
meet the rapid technological changes and the students and researchers
needs.
Encourage academic journal publishing institutions to develop and publish
guides and statistics for all journals published by academic institutions
throughout the United Arab Emirates.
Invite researchers to conduct similar studies to measure the extent of
abidance of other refereed journals issued by academic institutions and
organizations, scientific associations, and research centers with the
international specifications and standards (ISO) to have a clear view of the
degree of compliance.
Invite researchers to conduct a comparative study between the refereed journals published in various
Arab countries to know which are more abiding with the International specifications and standards
(ISO).