Under the patronage and attendance of His Excellency the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Professor Dr. Naeem Al-Aboudi, the First Scientific Conference of the Editorial Boards of Iraqi Journals was launched on Wednesday, September 10, 2025.
Under the direct guidance of the University President, Professor Dr. Hassan Latif Al-Zubaidi, the conference was attended by the Dean of the Najaf Technical Institute, Professor Dr. Haider Hassan Al-Abdali, and the Editor-in-Chief of Al-Furat Journal of Innovation in Mechanical Engineering and Sustainable Energy, and its Managing Editor, Assistant Professor Dr. Ali Muhammad Haider, the Institute’s Administrative Assistant.
It is worth noting that the conference was hosted by the University of Technology in Baghdad, with broad participation from the presidents of Iraqi universities and the editorial boards of scientific journals, along with international experts from Elsevier, Clarivate, the Egyptian Knowledge Bank, and the ASF Foundation.
In his opening remarks, His Excellency the Minister emphasized the importance of increasing the presence of Iraqi university journals in international databases and enhancing their position in global impact and citation indicators. He explained that the Ministry has, over the past three years, established a distinguished phase based on quality standards, specialized research, and sound governance. He also emphasized that this approach ensures clear editorial policies and peer review mechanisms, the availability of sustainable technical and technological support, and continuous training for editorial boards and researchers to keep pace with developments in international publishing and indexing.
He also noted in another part of his remarks that strategic partnerships with Scopus and Clarivate have contributed to the integration of Iraqi journals into global databases and provided universities with accurate data on citations and research impact, in addition to opening channels for sustainable specialized support and consultations.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry for Scientific Research Affairs, Dr. Haider Abdul Dhahd, also delivered a speech, along with scientific sessions addressing topics of indexing academic content and reviewing the Research Management System (RMS) platform as part of the Ministry’s comprehensive digital transformation process.
The conference included discussions on a number of vital topics, most notably:
- The status of indexed Iraqi scientific journals and the Ministry’s qualitative achievements.
- The inclusion of (42) Iraqi journals in Scopus databases.
- The classification of (7) Iraqi journals in the first quarter (Q1), and (19) other journals in the second and third quarters (Q2 and Q3).
It is worth noting that the university’s participation embodies the university’s commitment to supporting the Ministry’s policies aimed at developing academic journals. Participants emphasized that these indicators represent a major achievement for scientific research in Iraqi universities and open broad horizons for enhancing the presence of local journals in international rankings.
