The Current Status of Professional Journals in Dental and Oral Health From Arabic-Speaking Countries

The Arabic-speaking region is disproportionately affected by oral health conditions compared with industrialized nations. The World Health Organization recommends oral health integration into chronic disease programs in middle- to low-income countries. This article evaluates availability of peer-reviewed dental and oral health publications in the Arabic-speaking region. Dental journals were identified through (i) PubMed NLM Catalog Journals; (ii) Scopus; (iii) Google Scholar; (iv) Science Direct; (v) the Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office; and (vi) Iraqi Academic Scientific Journals database. Each journal site was evaluated for aim/scope, publication period, activity status, format, and language. The search returned 28 dental and oral health professional journals that fit the study parameters; all were tabled and described by evaluation criteria. Language is a key element that emerged within the sample. The prevalence of online formats may inhibit community-level practitioners from accessing regionally and culturally congruent dental research.