Overcoming Barriers to Improve Research Productivity in Saudi Arabia

Academic research aims to provide solutions for many current problems. The data collection and analysis presented in this study addresses the extent to which such benefit could be realised in practice. This research reviews the limitations of research publishing in Saudi Arabia by focusing on the nature of academic journals, in terms of their numbers and purpose, the barriers that academic staff faced when they wished to publish. This research uses questionnaire tool. The data are tabulated and analysed in a systematic method to show findings in accordance with required objectives. The most prominent findings from this study are the lack of academic staff encouragement to conduct and publish research, lack of financial support to the research publishing sector, lack of a research publishing infrastructure. An interesting finding is that unlike many other countries, there is no culture of volunteering for work that does not provide direct financial benefit. This could be an important factor affecting the adoption of an online open publishing approach. This research ultimately aims at proposing and implementing suitable processes and policies to solve these problems and to identifying means of overcoming the research publishing barriers in Saudi Arabia.