Expansion of ARPHA’s client journal network to the Middle East

The Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture (EJFA), a peer-reviewed academic publication in agricultural and food sciences by the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), has made history as the first scientific journal from the Middle East to utilize the comprehensive scholarly publishing platform ARPHA.

Established in 1989 with a focus on agriculture and food science, the open-access journal has already started publishing its 2024 content on its new ARPHA-powered website. This development follows a new partnership between the UAEU and Pensoft, a scholarly publisher and technology innovator.

EJFA, which has been indexed by Web of Science since 2013, boasts a Journal Impact Factor of 1.1 and a Scopus CiteScore of 1.9.

ARPHA, launched in 2013 by Pensoft, is a comprehensive publishing platform initially created for the publisher’s journal portfolio. It offers a seamless end-to-end publishing solution, from manuscript submission to article publication, indexation, dissemination, and archiving.

EJFA publishes original research articles, review papers, and short communications across various agriculture and food disciplines. With single-blind peer review and a continuous publication model, the journal ensures rapid dissemination of accepted papers.

Through ARPHA’s advanced workflows, EJFA’s content is efficiently exported to numerous platforms and academic databases, enhancing its visibility and accessibility globally.

The move to ARPHA marks a significant milestone for EJFA, allowing the journal to leverage cutting-edge technology for smoother publishing processes and wider reach. The Editor-in-Chief, Abdul Jaleel, expresses excitement about the strategic partnership with Pensoft and the opportunities it brings for the journal’s growth and impact.

ARPHA, as the first narrative- and data-integrated publishing solution, supports the entire manuscript life cycle, offering customisable production workflows to suit journal needs.

Pensoft, an independent open-access publisher, is renowned for its biodiversity journals, including ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, Phytokeys, and others. The company is dedicated to enhancing biodiversity data accessibility and interoperability through various tools and projects.

The collaboration between EJFA, UAEU, Pensoft, and ARPHA signifies a significant step towards enhancing the scholarly publishing landscape in the Middle East and beyond. The strategic partnership aims to elevate the visibility and accessibility of EJFA’s research globally, setting the stage for future milestones in academic dissemination and impact.