ABSTRACT HIDA, RAHMA. School and Educational Psychology in The

ABSTRACT

HIDA, RAHMA. School and Educational Psychology in the Arab World: A Mixed Methods Study Examining Publication Trends and Research Practices of Arab Scholars. (Under the direction of Dr. John Begeny).

The topic of internationalization has garnered interest in school and educational psychology in recent years. An aspect of internationalization is the degree to which scholarship is internationally representative. Assessing school and educational psychology scholarship is important for providing a metric of internationalization. Particularly, examining scholarship within the Arab World can help us understand research practices, trends, key issues, and publication barriers within the region. This study aimed to evaluate school and educational psychology in the Arab World by utilizing a mixed methods design wherein quantitative methods were used to code articles published between 2014-2018 in international journals

(N=737) and Arab World-affiliated journals (N=1085) for authors' geographic affiliation, participants' location, article type, and outcome variables. Data from the quantitative phase informed the qualitative phase of the study, which consisted of interviews with seven Arab scholars who published in international school and educational psychology journals as well as journals affiliated with the Arab World. Findings indicated an overrepresentation of research from North America and Europe within international journals, with only two articles published by Arab scholars within selected international journals. Interviews with scholars revealed strong incentive and motivation to publish internationally but significant barriers, including issues related to political unrest and turmoil, linguistic barriers, funding issues, and editors’ and reviewers’ biases toward research. Findings, interpretations, and implications are discussed.

by Rahma Hida

A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Psychology

Raleigh, North Carolina 2021

APPROVED BY:

______Dr. John C. Begeny Dr. Eui Kyung Kim Committee Chair

______Dr. John Nietfeld Dr. Scott A. Stage ii

DEDICATION

الى أمي ناهد و الى ابي محمد و الى إخواني عبد هللا و علي. انتم أهلي. انتم الثبات و اليقين و وجه الحياه.

iii

BIOGRAPHY

Rahma Hida was born on May 5th, 1994 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She and her family are from Egypt. Rahma and her family immigrated from Egypt to the United States when she was four years old. They lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Rahma attended school. She graduated from Wake Early College of Health and Sciences with a high school diploma and an

Associate of Arts degree in 2012 and later attended North Carolina State University for college, where she graduated in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and another in

English with a concentration in creative writing. She also pursued minor areas of study in

Cognitive Science and History. Rahma then went on to pursue her Ph.D. in Psychology at North

Carolina State University, where she participated in research, coursework, and clinical work.

Rahma is currently completing her predoctoral internship at Harvard Medical School/Boston

Children’s Hospital. She anticipates graduating with her Ph.D. in Psychology in June 2021.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I am grateful for the participants in my study who gave me a glimpse into their lives through their honest and vulnerable stories. I am inspired by and in awe of each of you. I would like to thank my family- my mother Nahed Hida, my father Mohamed Hida, and my brothers Abdulla and Ali Hida- whom, despite not knowing exactly what it is I do, offer me endless support, encouragement, and love. I would like to thank my committee chair Dr. John

Begeny and committee members Dr. Eui Kyung Kim, Dr. John Nietfeld, and Dr. Scott Stage for their support, guidance, wisdom, and invaluable feedback as I completed this project. I would like to thank Somia Youssef for her kindness and her faith in me and her ability to see the world in a way only she can. Thank you to Hadeer Salem for her dependability and steadfastness and ability to ground me. I am thankful to Shima Idries not only for the love and sisterhood she has shown me over the years but also for the raw and unfiltered conversations we have about decolonization that challenge my perspectives. Thank you to Sondos Tarek; even though we are oceans apart, it feels like you’re right here beside me. Thank you to my cousin, Shrook Awad, for her confidence in me and her gentle and generous nature. I am thankful to Daniel Underwood for his unwavering support and for being a source of comfort and reassurance when I need it most. Thank you to Jiayi Wang for being my companion on this graduate school journey these past five years. Thank you to the student members of the American Arab, Middle Eastern, and

North African Psychological Association (AMENA-Psy)- specifically Bahaur Amini and Emily

El-Oqlah- for being a calming presence on Zoom during our Sunday morning dissertation accountability groups, for their expertise and suggestions and feedback, and for the all-nighters. I would like to thank my fellow interns, supervisors, and attending psychologists and psychiatrists at Boston Children’s Hospital for being a supportive presence during this unique training year.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ...... vii Introduction ...... 1 Internationalization ...... 3 Internationalization within School and Educational Psychology ...... 5 Scholarship and Publication Trends of Social Sciences Research within the Arab World ...... 9 Globalization and its role in marginalizing the Arabic language in the social sciences .... 9 The effect of the Arab Spring on research productivity in the Arab World...... 12 Research on mental health in the Arab World ...... 14 Arab scholars’ communication styles ...... 14 Limitations and gaps in the literature on scholarship in the Arab World ...... 16 School and Educational Psychology in the Arab World ...... 17 Doctoral program in school and educational psychology in the Arab World...... 17 School psychology in the United Arab Emirates...... 17 School psychology in Palestine...... 18 School psychology in Saudi Arabia ...... 20 Gaps in the literature on school psychology in the Arab World ...... 22 Purpose and Research Questions ...... 24

Method ...... 25 Researcher Positionality and Reflexivity ...... 25 Design ...... 26 Quantitative Phase ...... 26 Categorization of the Arab World...... 26 Selection and inclusion of Arab World-affiliated journals ...... 27 Selection and inclusion of international school and educational psychology journals .... 28 Variables and coding...... 29 Training coders, coding data, and measuring inter-coder reliability ...... 30 Analysis of quantitative data ...... 31

Results ...... 34 Quantitative Results ...... 34 Representation of the Arab World within international journals ...... 34 Representation of the Arab World within Arab World-affiliated journals ...... 35 Differences in geographic representativeness among publication years ...... 35 Income groups ...... 36 Article types ...... 36 Outcome variables ...... 37 Qualitative Results ...... 38 School and educational psychology in the Arab World is still in its early stages, and there is no consistent terminology to describe specialists in schools or school-based psychological and counseling services ...... 38 Promotion/tenure systems and university-based policies incentivize publication in highly ranked international journals ...... 42

Scholars’ reflections on research practices, experiences, and preferences reveal that scholars who publish internationally typically consider journal rankings and impact factors, and most scholars who publish in Arab World-affiliated journals express a desire to publish internationally ...... 43 Collaboration with researchers is somewhat challenged by promotion/tenure systems that favor single-authored papers, but despite this, most participants expressed eagerness and interest in collaborating with researchers within their countries or abroad ...... 45 Factors contributing to the underrepresentation of the Arab World in international journals include political turmoil, financial barriers, linguistic barriers, and reviewers’ and editors’ biases ...... 47

Discussion...... 53 Review of quantitative findings ...... 53 Review of qualitative findings ...... 54 Academic colonialism and its maintenance of academic dependency ...... 56 Recommendations to Improve Internationally Representative Scholarship and Challenge Notions of Academic Colonialism ...... 65 Questions for Further Reflection and Consideration ...... 70 Limitations and Future Research Directions...... 70 Conclusion ...... 71

References ...... 72

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Sample of School and Educational Psychology Journals ...... 88

Table 2 Participants’ Demographics ...... 89

Table 3 Author Affiliation (by Percentage) within Selected International Journals ...... 90

Table 4 Participant Location (by Percentage) within Selected International Journals ...... 91

Table 5 Top Represented Countries within International Journals ...... 92

Table 6 Author Affiliation (by Percentage) within Selected Arab World-Affiliated Journals ...... 93

Table 7 Participant Location (by Percentage) within Selected Arab World-Affiliated Journals ...... 94

Table 8 Top Represented Countries within Arab World-Affiliated Journals ...... 95

Table 9 Representation of Countries with Varying Income Statuses in International and Arab World-Affiliated Journals ...... 96

Table 10 Differences in Article Types between International Journals and Arab World- Affiliated Journals ...... 96

Table 11 Differences in Outcome Variables between International Journals and Arab World-Affiliated Journals ...... 97

Introduction

Over the past years, the topic of internationalization has garnered growing interest in multiple fields, including psychology and its subdisciplines. One key aspect of internationalization is the degree to which a field’s scholarship is internationally representative.

Past studies have examined international publication trends within psychology overall (e.g.,

Arnett, 2008; O’Gorman, Shum, Halford, & Ogilvie, 2012) as well as sub-disciplines such as counseling psychology (e.g., Pieterse, Fang, & Evans, 2011), industrial/organizational psychology (e.g., Bajwa & König, 2019), and school and educational psychology (e.g., Begeny,

Levy, Hida, & Norwalk, 2018; Begeny et al., 2018b; Jennings, Erhardt, & Poling, 2008; Little,

Akin-Little, & Llyod, 2011). The empirical literature on school and educational psychology scholarship thus far has examined international representativeness of articles in select school and educational psychology journals (e.g., Begeny et al., 2018b; Jennings et al., 2008; Little et al.,

2011), international representativeness of causal-experimental studies in discipline-focused journals (Begeny et al., 2018a), school and educational psychology journals’ editorial board representativeness (Wang, Begeny, Hida, & Oluokun, 2019), key characteristics of school and educational psychology journals around the world (Begeny, Wang, Hida, Oluokun, & Jones,

2019), and school and educational psychologists’ broad perspectives on internationalization

(Bernardo et al., 2018). The aforementioned studies primarily utilized quantitative measures, with the exception of the study by Bernardo and colleagues (2018), which used an informal qualitative approach. To my knowledge, none of the studies examining internationalization of school and educational psychology have utilized a mixed methods approach. Arguably, quantitative results on their own—and qualitative results on their own—are not sufficient to fully describe international publication trends. A mixed methods approach may produce a more

2 nuanced and rich understanding of international publication trends. In addition, a more focused examination of a single geographic region (i.e., the Arab World) can allow for a more context- relevant understanding of scholarship and publication practices, as in the case of a prior research study that examined school psychology in Pacific Rim countries (van Schalkwyk & D’Amato,

2013).

This project aims to utilize a mixed methods sequential explanatory design in order to build on previous scholarship focusing on the internationalization of school and educational psychology as well as to closely examine publication trends within the Arab World. I define the

Arab World as a region that comprises the following 22 member states of what is formally recognized as the Arab League: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan,

Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,

Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen (WorldData.info, 2020;

Council on Foreign Relations, 2020).

In the following paragraphs, I begin with a description of internationalization, followed by an overview of current research on internationalization in school and educational psychology.

Then, I will discuss what is currently known about research in the social sciences, psychology, and mental health in the Arab World and describe what has been written in English about school and educational psychology in the Arab World. Finally, I will elaborate on the purpose of this study and state my research questions.

Internationalization

Over the years, scholars within psychology have provided various descriptions and definitions of internationalization (Arfken, 2012; Arnett, 2008; Begeny, 2018a; Begeny, 2018b;

Leung et al., 2009; van de Vijver, 2013). Although these descriptions and definitions differ

3 somewhat in what is emphasized, there is a great deal of consistency. One definition, proposed by van de Vijver (2013), contends that internationalization is “the approach in which existing or new psychological theories, methods, procedures, or data across cultures are synthesized so as to create a more culture-informed, inclusive, and globally applicable science and profession” (p.

761). He also argued that internationalization has three imperatives: a moral imperative (because it makes psychology more inclusive), an intellectual imperative (because it makes psychology a better science), and a professional imperative (because it makes for better practice).

In a seminal study that analyzed major American Psychological Association (APA) journals, a pattern of “American dominance” was found (Arnett, 2008). Specifically, 68% of sample articles in APA journals were from the United States, 14% were from other English- speaking countries, and 13% were from Europe. The remaining percentages were as follows: 3% of samples were from Asia, 1% were from Latin America, and 1% were from Africa or the

Middle East. Based on these results, Arnett argued that American psychology as it stands now is an “incomplete science” that does not truly represent the human population. He stated the following:

It does seem dubious that American psychology can claim status as a human science if its

focus is on only 5% of the human population, with an occasional nod to an additional 7%.

The conditions of life that people around the world experience are wonderfully (and

sometimes terribly) diverse, in terms of population density and growth, income,

education, and health, as well as in ways of life and in cultural frameworks for

understanding human relations and human existence. (p. 613)

In the article, Arnett argued for the inclusion of “the neglected 95%” on the basis that internationally representative research is necessary for creating a science that accurately depicts

4 the whole of humanity. Although Arnett’s study revealed noteworthy findings about the international representativeness of APA journals, the study had some important limitations. For instance, although it provided a good understanding of the international representativeness of scholarship within major APA journals, the methods used and the data collected did not allow for an explanation of the publication trends. In other words, it is important to understand why, for example, there were virtually no authors with work affiliations in Latin America, Africa, or the

Middle East.

Certainly, one can speculate about the reasons, as Arnett did by proposing that the issue of disparate representativeness is due to the presence of more resources for research in wealthier countries as well as the emphasis of the dominant philosophy of psychology, which favors systematic experimentation and universal processes over the consideration of contextual and situational factors. Although speculations such as these and others are helpful in hypothesizing about the factors contributing to the disparity we see in scholarship internationally, it is important—and timely—to systematically answer the “why” question. Another limitation relates to the sampling of journals. The study examined journals that spanned a wide variety of subdisciplines within psychology, including clinical psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, and social psychology. Although a holistic analysis of a variety of journals within psychology has merit, this broad analysis does not allow for a closer examination of discipline-specific trends and arguably does not allow for recommendations that are specifically tailored to stakeholders within each of those respective disciplines. For example, in the field of school and educational psychology, the International School Psychology Association

(ISPA) is a professional organization that promotes cooperation and collaboration among school and educational psychologists around the world—which is an important charge because some

5 estimates suggest that professionals within the discipline are present in more than 80 countries

(Jimerson, Skokut, Cardenas, Malone, & Stewart, 2007).

In addition to ISPA as a leading international organization for the discipline, national organizations also exist to promote school and educational psychology on a countrywide scale.

These national organizations include, for example, the Australian Psychologists and Counsellors in School; the Canadian Association of School Psychologists (CASP) and the Canadian

Association of Educational Psychology (CAEP); the Division of Educational and Child

Psychology, which is a division of the British Psychological Society; and the National

Association of School Psychologists (NASP) in the United States. Within the Arab World, national organizations include the Iraqi Educational and Psychological Association and the Saudi

Educational and Psychological Association (APA, 2020).

Internationalization within School and Educational Psychology

Begeny (2018b) proposed the following working definition of internationalization specific to the field of school and educational psychology:

Internationalization within school and educational psychology [is] an intentional,

intercultural, collaborative, and ongoing process involving transparent communication,

representative stakeholders, a commitment to social justice, and various forms of data to

inform decisions and strategic actions aimed at achieving context-relevant, equitable

support and opportunities for professionals in the discipline. As an essential part of this

definition and collaborative process, practices should also reflect cultural respect,

reciprocity, inclusivity, value for all contributions, and co-creation of knowledge. In

addition, the ongoing process should, at minimum, involve the following: (1) periodically

identifying strengths and needs (e.g., by completing needs assessments) that are culturally

relevant and relate directly to determining or achieving specified goals; (2) identifying

representative stakeholders that align with the assessments and/or goals; and (3)

articulating clear and stated benefits for stakeholders, including but not limited to school

and educational psychology professionals. (p. 927)

Several studies have examined internationalization within the context of scholarship in school and educational psychology. Findings have been largely consistent with the results reported by Arnett (2008) and others who have examined international scholarship within psychology (e.g., Adair, Coêlho, & Luna, 2002; O’Gorman et al., 2012) or its sub-disciplines

(Bajwa & König, 2019; Pieterse et al., 2011). Two studies (Jennings et al., 2008; Little et al.,

2011) examined articles published in School Psychology International and found that although authors’ professional affiliations represented over 55 different countries, the majority of authors were from the United States. In a study that examined 4,456 articles published over a period of

15 years in eight international school and educational psychology journals, Begeny et al. (2018b) found that scholarship in school and educational psychology predominantly represented participants and authors in Western Europe and North America. In fact, 57% of authors and 45% of participants were affiliated with the United States, and 95% of authors and 90% of participants were affiliated with Western Europe and North America. Less than 1% of authors and participants were affiliated with the Arab World. Another study by Begeny et al. (2018a) found similar patterns of poor global representation in causal-experimental research (e.g., intervention studies) in eight major school psychology journals. In that study, 85% of experimental research included participants and/or first authors in the United States, a number that is exceptionally disparate from the approximate 38% of school psychologists around the world who work in the

United States.

Subsequent studies more closely examined characteristics of school and educational psychology journals as well as these journals’ editorial boards. In an evaluation of publication outlets of scholars in school and educational psychology around the world, Kim et al. (2018) identified a total of 51 doctoral programs outside of the United States, with five (9.8%) in Africa,

24 (47.1%) in Asia, and 22 (43.1%) in North America and Western Europe. Scholars affiliated with these doctoral programs frequently published in discipline-specific journals and overwhelmingly published articles in English. As of 2019, researchers identified a total of 45 journals around the world devoted to school and educational psychology (Begeny et al., 2019).

Of the 45 journals identified, several of the journals’ websites published content in languages other than English (e.g., Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese,

Romanian, and Spanish). Despite this, however, every single journal website included some content (e.g., abstracts or full articles) in English. An example of this is the Journal of

Educational and Psychological Sciences, which is based in Bahrain. Researchers submit manuscripts to this journal in Arabic, and full articles are published in Arabic; however, the website content is in English and the abstracts are published in English (Begeny et al., 2019).

Wang et al. (2019) built upon the Begeny et al. (2019) study by examining editorial boards of the

45 school and educational psychology journals identified by Begeny et al. Findings revealed that editorial boards overall represented individuals from all global regions, but several regions (e.g.,

Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America) were underrepresented compared to what is known about school and educational psychologists working within those global regions. In addition, within the journals, editorial board members’ geographic affiliation was usually consistent with recent authors’ geographic affiliation.

The aforementioned studies were the first of their kind to empirically evaluate different aspects of international scholarship as one component of the internationalization of school and educational psychology. Findings by Kim et al. (2018) and Begeny et al. (2019) also helped to highlight that English is widely used around the world in the context of scholarship within school and educational psychology—a finding that is consistent with other reports within and outside of psychology (e.g., Fradkin, 2017; Gibbs, 1995; Packer, 2016; van de Vijver, 2013). The topic of using English around the world for scholarly purposes will be discussed and further contextualized later.

Thus far, the studies about internationalization within school and educational psychology have relied primarily on descriptive and quantitative methods and have focused the majority of analyses on bibliometric analytical methods (e.g., through systematic analyses of journal articles,

CVs, and/or editorial boards). When assessing international representativeness, Begeny et al.

(2018a) and Begeny et al. (2018b) both examined major school and educational psychology journals published in English as there is evidence that these journals are some of the primary journals in which scholars around the world publish their work; however, it was recommended that future research should more closely examine and analyze this issue (Begeny et al., 2018b).

In addition, although previous studies have proposed potential hypotheses to explain why scholarship in school and educational psychology disproportionately represents the makeup of school and educational psychologists around the world, these hypotheses were largely based on researchers’ professional observations and experiences, responses elicited from member checking procedures, and from other propositions posited by scholars who have written about the internationalization of psychology (Arnett, 2008; Begeny et al., 2018b; O’Gorman et al., 2012; van de Vijver, 2013). As Begeny et al. (2018b) stated, however, studies examining international

9 publication trends within school and educational psychology scholarship have not yet used focused methodology to garner clearer explanations for the data. In other words, research should better attempt to answer the “why” question as it relates to international publication patterns.

Arguably, the use of a mixed methods design can assist in getting closer to understanding the factors behind disproportionate publication patterns within school and educational psychology scholarship. Ultimately, one goal of internationalization is to “enhance internationally representative, culturally informed, and accessible scholarship that helps to improve local, national, and/or global research, practice, or theory” (Begeny, 2018b, p. 920). Examining the content and patterns of publications in Arabic journals—as well as soliciting input from scholars within the Arab World—can lend a better understanding of school and educational psychology in a region that is historically underrepresented in international journals (e.g., Arnett, 2008; Begeny et al., 2018b).

Scholarship and Publication Trends of Social Sciences Research within the Arab World

Although there has not yet been a systematic and focused examination of school and educational psychology scholarship within the Arab World, there have been studies exploring scholarship and publication trends of fields within the social sciences (including psychology and mental health) within the region. These studies are described in the following sections.

Globalization and its role in marginalizing the Arabic language in the social sciences. In a study by Hanafi and Arvanitis (2014), the tradition of higher education and research practices in the Arab World were contextualized within the broader background of globalization. Hanafi and Arvanitis provided a compelling critique of the aftereffects of globalization and the impact globalization has had on publication practices in the Arab World.

As stated previously, English is often considered the lingua franca and primary language of

10 science and scholarship (e.g., Fradkin, 2017; Gibbs, 1995; van de Vijver, 2013)—and data generally support this idea (e.g., Arnett, 2008; Begeny et al., 2019; Kim et al., 2018; Sivertsen,

2016). As a result of English’s status as the lingua franca, publications that are authored in any language besides English are often considered provincial by “international” scholarly journals

(Frenken, Hoekman, & Hardeman, 2010; Hanafi & Arvanitis, 2014). In addition, works published in languages besides English are often difficult to find through major databases such as

ERIC and PsycINFO (Bernardo et al., 2018).

Hanafi and Arvanitis (2014) found that among the work of Arab scholars in the sciences, there are limited instances of Arabic references. As reported by Hanafi and Arvanitis, most research in the Arab World is conducted within universities; research is rarely conducted by independent research centers or private institutions. Some universities in the Arab World teach in languages other than Arabic, including English. In the case of what are dubbed Maghreb countries—countries in Northwest Africa that include Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and

Tunisia—instruction is sometimes in French as a result of decades of direct French colonization of that region. Hanafi and Arvanitis noted that older, more elite and well-known universities in the Arab World use instruction in a foreign language (commonly English or French) to maintain their elite identities. In discussing contextual factors of higher education in the Arab World, the authors observed a distinction between social sciences and other fields such as medicine, engineering, or natural sciences: social sciences are more frequently taught in Arabic, and researchers in social sciences publish more frequently in Arabic than researchers in other fields.

Although this finding was not empirically evaluated by the authors, it is a phenomenon that influences the ways in which Arab students learn and, eventually, conduct research.

In discussing this issue of two languages competing for dominance in a single country or region, it is important to note the inequities or consequences that arise as a result of this competition. For example, in the Arab World, students of lower social statuses are more likely to only speak Arabic fluently (and not English or French), and consequently, these students are often integrated into the social sciences due to Arabic being used most frequently in social science disciplines. Proficiency in a language besides Arabic is not only a sign of social recognition and an “elite” identity, but it is also seen as a valuable skill in the labor market

(Hanafi & Arvanitis, 2014). The language of instruction certainly influences the language scholars use to write and research and the scholarship they reference in their academic work. A question posed by scholars studying this issue of language is whether the reality of one’s society can be effectively communicated and understandable in a foreign language (Hanafi & Arvanitis,

2014; Ortiz, 2008). Is it possible to speak and think in one language and to read and write in another?

Hanafi and Arvanitis pointed to a variety of factors that could explain Arab scholars’ limited use of Arabic references in their academic work, ranging from globalization to the commodification and privatization of university systems (Hanafi, 2011). In addition, the authors reference a “dependency by choice” and allude to Alatas’s theory of academic dependency, which refers to the tendency of scholars in low- and middle-income countries to rely on institutions in the Western World—particularly the United States, Great Britain, and France—for ideas relevant to the social sciences, including research questions and methods and standards for measuring excellence (Alatas, 2013). Academic dependency occurs under a larger context of academic imperialism or academic neo-colonialism (hereafter referred to as academic colonialism), which is defined by Alatas as “the West’s monopolistic control of and influence

12 over the nature and flows of social scientific knowledge” (p. 602). Academic colonialism can be seen in the ways that the Western World creates standards and expectations for the production, transmission, analysis, and interpretation of psychological science (Fumagalli, 2018; Mäki,

2013). School and educational psychologists have reported that issues such as power, privilege, and paternalism oftentimes undermine the ideals and values of internationalization, including equity, inclusivity, cultural understanding, and social justice (Begeny et al., 2021; Bernardo et al., 2018).

The effect of the Arab Spring on research productivity in the Arab World. Ibrahim

(2018) conducted a study that focused on scholarship published by researchers from 22 members of the Arab League before and after the Arab Spring, which began in 2010 and consisted of a series of anti-government protests and rebellions across the majority of the Arab World, starting in Tunisia and spreading to other countries in the region, including Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. The extent and the outcomes of these uprisings varied by country; however, regardless, it is argued that every Arab country was affected in some way by the Arab Spring

(Hollis, 2012; Ibrahim, 2018). The study included articles from the Web of Sciences (WOS) database that were published between 2006 and 2015 by authors affiliated with institutions in the

Arab World. Articles represented a wide variety of fields, including arts and humanities, life sciences and biomedicine, physical sciences, social sciences, and technology. Articles were analyzed in the years prior to the Arab Spring (i.e., 2006-2010) and in the years following the

Arab Spring (i.e., 2011-2015). Key findings in this study included the following. First, research production from scholars in the Arab World doubled following the Arab Spring. Second, the largest research productivity across all fields was present in countries that witnessed revolution and government overthrows during the Arab Spring. Prior to the Arab Spring, there was

13 collaboration among authors in Arab countries, and following the Arab Spring, collaboration between scholars in the Arab World and scholars in countries outside of the Arab World significantly increased. In an analysis of languages used by researchers in Arab countries,

English accounted for the vast majority of production, representing 96% of total research production. Arabic accounted for a miniscule proportion of research production, with three articles published in Arabic before the Arab Spring. However, the number of Arabic-language articles increased to 36 in the years following the Arab Spring.

Findings reported by Ibrahim are consistent with previous studies showing a prevalence of English publications among researchers in the Arab World (Hanafi & Arvanitis, 2014) and that scholars around the world generally publish in English (Arnett, 2008; Begeny et al., 2018b;

Sivertsen, 2016). In addition, the rise of Arabic-language articles following the Arab Spring may be explained by the tendency for Arab scholars to publish in Arabic to reach local audiences and to publish in English to reach international audiences (Hanafi, 2011; Hanafi & Arvanitis, 2014), a finding consistent with researchers around the world, including in Norway, where researchers publish in Norwegian to connect with and advocate for local communities and publish in English to connect with an international audience (Sivertsen, 2016). However, Ibrahim (2018)’s findings should be interpreted with caution as the study included journals listed in the WOS database, which, according to the website, “includes only journals that demonstrate high levels of editorial rigor and best practice” (Web of Science), which may suggest that Arab World-affiliated journals that may not have indicators such as impact factors or H-indeces may not be included in this database and may not have been included in Ibrahim’s analyses.

Hanafi (2011) provides an extended discussion of the dilemma faced by Arab scholars in deciding whether to publish in Arabic or English, described as choosing to “publish globally and

14 perish locally” or to “publish locally and perish globally” (p. 291). It is likely that the Arab

Spring brought forth issues that pertained particularly to the Arab World—issues ranging from education to incarceration to housing and food insecurities (Ibrahim, 2018)—that required publishing in Arabic for an Arabic-speaking audience in order to influence positive change and action. The findings by Ibrahim underscore the impact that social and political movements can have on research practices and publication trends.

Research on mental health in the Arab World. Another study that examined scholarship within the Arab World is a study by Jaalouk, Okasha, Salamoun, and Karam (2012), in which articles on mental health in 21 Arab countries published between 1966 and 2006 were assessed in order to analyze the progression of mental health research over time in the Arab

World. Articles were screened using PubMed and PsychInfo. Results indicated that in the 40- year period assessed, 2,213 articles were produced in the Arab World and covered a wide range of topics, including mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Publications increased eightfold in the last decade compared to the first two decades and nearly doubled in the last decade compared to the third decade. High disparity was observed across countries, with the highest yearly research output coming from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Lebanon. Consistent with other research on internationalization, authors noted a global disparity, wherein the United States and the United Kingdom, which collectively represent approximately 6% of the human population, produced more than 50% of mental health research.

Arab scholars’ communication styles. Shehata (2019) used a mixed methods approach to examine scholarly communication styles of researchers in humanities and social sciences who were employed in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. A survey was completed by 104 participants and then followed by interviews with 36 participants. Analyses yielded the following findings: (1)

15 although formal channels (e.g., peer-reviewed journal) are prioritized over informal channels, most participants used informal channels such as ResearchGate and Facebook to communicate research findings; (2) most scholars used Arabic to search for information, causing a reliance on

Arabic publications to support research; (3) researchers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia rarely collaborated internationally and primarily collaborated with colleagues who work at the same university; (4) despite having access to resources through research initiatives and grant support, most scholars in Egypt and Saudi Arabia relied on publicly available, more easily accessible sources of information for their research, including Google and Wikipedia; and (5) scholars in

Egypt and Saudi Arabia hesitated to publish preprints for fear of plagiarism and risking formal publication. The article also included detail about promotion systems in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, including the preference for print journals as opposed to online-only journals in Egypt and the encouragement of sole authorship on papers as opposed to co-authorship, which is awarded fewer points within the promotion systems in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

These findings illustrate many of the unique characteristics of scholarly communication styles of researchers working in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Specifically, the findings regarding the promotion systems in Egypt and Saudi Arabia may have implications for internationalization.

For example, if scholars in Egypt are opposed to online-only journals, this may restrict the dissemination of their scholarship globally. This is due to the rapid growth of online-only journals, which studies have found is exceeding the growth of print-and-online journals (Gu &

Blackmore, 2016). An aversion to online-only journals may limit the options of publication outlets among scholars in Egypt, thus hindering the global dissemination of their research. In addition, if co-authorship is disincentivized in Egyptian and Saudi Arabian university promotion systems, this may discourage scholars to engage in transnational or transcontinental

16 collaboration. This is an important point to consider because meaningful, reciprocal, and inclusive collaboration is one of the goals of internationalization (Begeny, 2018b).

Limitations and gaps in the literature on scholarship in the Arab World. The reviewed studies have contributed greatly to our understanding of publication trends and research practices of scholars in the Arab World. However, there remain gaps in the current literature and what is known about scholarship in the Arab World, especially as it relates to internationalization of school and educational psychology. To begin, there has not yet been a study that systematically examined school and educational psychology scholarship within the Arab World.

In addition, much of the research on scholarship in the Arab World focuses on broad fields (e.g., mental health [Jaalouk et al., 2012], social sciences [Hanafi & Arvanitis, 2014), and social sciences and humanities [Shehata, 2019]) or multiple fields (e.g., Ibrahim, 2018). Although assessment of broad fields and multiple fields are useful for identifying and understanding holistic publication patterns within the region, it is also important to examine international publication patterns and trends within specific subdisciplines such as school and educational psychology. These closer examinations can allow stakeholders within school and educational psychology to gain a better understanding of the field’s scholarship and international representativeness. In addition, the aforementioned studies did not specifically analyze journals affiliated with universities or institutions in the Arab World, suggesting a potentially limited understanding of local or indigenous publication outlets. Finally, although a very small number of studies have utilized qualitative methods (e.g., Shehata, 2019), the majority of studies on international publication trends have not. Arguably, there are questions about scholarly publication patterns that can be more effectively answered using a mixed method design that could include both quantitative and qualitative methods.

School and Educational Psychology in the Arab World

Some researchers have attempted to describe the practice of school and educational psychology in the Arab World. In the following sections, I review a study that identified a doctoral program in educational psychology in the Arab World. Then, I summarize researchers’ descriptions of the history, evolution, and practice of school psychology in countries within the

Arab World.

Doctoral program in school and educational psychology in the Arab World. Kim et al. (2018) conducted a study that identified all universities around the world (with the exception of the United States) that offered a doctoral program in school or educational psychology. Within the Arab World, one doctoral program in educational psychology was offered by the University of Jordan. A closer examination of the doctoral program’s website revealed that the program offers specialized tracks in measurement and evaluation or learning and development (University of Jordan, 2017).

School psychology in the United Arab Emirates. In the Handbook of International

School Psychology edited by Jimerson, Oakland, and Farrell (2007), a chapter was devoted to several countries with a known presence of school psychology, including two representing the

Arab World. Alghorani (2007) wrote about school psychology in the United Arab Emirates

(UAE). In the chapter, Alghorani reported a bustling economy in the region and a strong educational structure. However, the field of school psychology is still in its infancy in the UAE.

Prior to 1980, professionals referred to as social specialists handled issues affecting students’ learning, including academic performance, school attendance, and psychological needs.

However, social specialists did not have the training or education to manage many of the issues with which students presented (e.g., psychological needs), and in 1980 the Ministry of Education

18 established two offices of psychological services staffed with Bachelor’s-level specialists in psychology who received referrals from social specialists. Psychology specialists assisted in assessment, consultation, and referrals to community mental health providers or outpatient clinics. Following the growing demand for special education support, psychology specialists were integrated into schools. Due to the stigma toward the word “psychology,” which is associated with insanity or psychosis in the UAE, psychology specialists in schools were formally recognized as “educational counselors.” Psychology specialists in the schools typically hold Bachelor’s degrees from scientist-practitioner programs in psychology. They provide a range of services in schools, including psychoeducational and psychological assessment, consultation with families and school personnel, and intervention. Alghorani identified several challenges impacting school psychology in the UAE. These challenges included the lack of graduate programs in school psychology, the uneven ratio of psychology specialists to schools

(each psychology specialist is assigned to five public schools), and the lack of standardized tests that are culturally relevant and normed to the population in the UAE. Since 2007, initiatives have been taking place in order to advance and promote school psychology in the UAE. Such initiatives include a proposition to develop a Master’s degree program in school psychology in the UAE, increased efforts to develop and norm standardized tests, recruitment of psychology specialists, and more professional development and training opportunities for practitioners.

School psychology in Palestine. The Handbook of International School Psychology also featured a chapter on school psychology in Israel, a state that has occupied Palestine since it was established in 1948. I make this clarification because Palestine is formally recognized as a member of the Arab League, yet the land is occupied by Israel. Regions such as the West Bank and the Gaza strip are referred to as Palestinian territories but are still considered by the

19 international community to be occupied by Israel (Schaffer & Levin, 2016). The population of

Israel consists of approximately 81% Jewish people and 19% Arab people (Stein, 2007). Stein reported that most schools in Israel are segregated by faith, with some schools catered to Jewish students and other schools catered to Arab students and very few catered to both. Of note, severe inequities exist between Jewish students’ and Arab students’ educational experiences, with Arab schools suffering from significant budgeting discrimination that results in poorer standardized test results and lower rates of high school graduation among Arab students (Payes, 2017). With this context in mind, it is unclear whether Stein’s description of school psychology in Israel also applies to Arab schools and schools in Palestinian territories. For instance, as of 2017, there has not been an Arab school that has accommodated students with special needs in Ramle, a city in

Israel (Payes, 2017).

Stein (2007) reported a presence of school psychology in the region as early as 1936, when the first Center for Educational Psychology was established in Tel Aviv. The region has seen a growth in school psychological services for the entire population but especially for the

Arab community due, in part, to shifting attitudes toward psychological services and an increase in available staff. Training includes at least five years of education and graduation with a

Master’s degree from one of five recognized Israeli universities. Trainees then register at a school psychology clinic, where they are required to work under supervision for two years full- time or four years part-time. An oral examination concludes the process and, upon passing the oral examination, students are eligible for licensure. Stein stated that “the law defined very clearly who may use the title of psychologist” (p. 194). All five universities in Israel have

Master’s degrees in psychology, but only one offers a program in school psychology, with the remaining four offering Master’s degrees in child clinical psychology. Stein reported that clinical

20 psychology is more well-regarded than school psychology and therefore attracts more students; however, many graduates of child clinical psychology programs eventually work in educational settings. Challenges impacting school psychology in Israel include concerns about financing services in the future due to the possibility of privatization of school psychological services; issues with postgraduate in-service training; and a lack of differentiation of school psychology from other professions such as school counseling, which results in a lack of clarity about what school psychologists can contribute to school systems and society overall. Despite these challenges, school psychology in Israel continues to evolve, develop, and show significant achievements over the years.

School psychology in Saudi Arabia. While some regions in the Arab World have a relatively well-developed infrastructure of school psychology, there are other countries that are still in the process of building and developing a system for school psychology practice. For example, Alsoqaih et al. (2018) conducted a case study and needs assessment of school psychological services in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The authors aimed to examine the status of school psychology in Saudi Arabia both at a university-level and at a school-level. A survey was provided to 150 principals, 150 teachers, and 10 chairs of schools in Riyadh. Although it was argued that there is a significant need for school psychological services and school psychologists in Saudi Arabia, findings indicated a significant lack of training in school psychology. Notably, none of the universities in Saudi Arabia offer degrees at any level (Master’s or PhD) in school psychology. However, graduate degrees are offered in related fields such as clinical psychology, counseling psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, special education, and social work. School principals were asked to report the training of service providers in schools in Riyadh. Findings revealed that service providers held one of three specializations at

21 either the bachelor’s (87.3% of providers) or master’s (12.7% of providers) level: general psychology, special education, and social work. When examining training at the school-level, the overwhelming majority of educators in Riyadh reported a lack of training and preparation in school psychological functions (e.g., assessment, diagnosis, and intervention). These findings highlight a need for school psychological services in Saudi Arabia. The authors also reported that given its history of commitment to educational excellence, Saudi Arabia is particularly well- positioned to expand its educational services into the specialty of school psychology.

The previously reviewed articles by Alghorani (2007), Stein (2007), and Alsoqaih et al.

(2018) collectively provide a small picture of how school psychology is practiced within at least a few countries in the Arab World and how the field has developed and evolved over time in these countries. First and foremost, it is evident that there is a presence of school psychology in the Arab World, even if the services and providers are referred to in terms that differ from the terms used in Western Europe and North America. The findings support the claim that school psychological services may be provided by individuals who are not labeled “school psychologists” (e.g., social specialists, psychology specialists, educational counselors, child clinical psychologists) and that school psychology is primarily related to the context of practice

(i.e., school and educational settings) and not necessarily to specific services, practices, roles, and responsibilities (e.g., Begeny et al., 2021). In addition, the articles’ findings are consistent with the observation that licensure and training requirements can vary drastically across countries (Jimerson, Oakland, & Farrell, 2007). Training requirements to provide psychological services in schools within the Arab World can vary from obtaining a Bachelor’s degree and gaining specialized professional development (as is the case in the UAE and Saudi Arabia) to obtaining a Master’s degree and gaining two years of supervised clinical practice (as is the case

22 in Israel). Finally, the findings outline the increasing need for school psychological services in the Arab World in the face of growing demands for special education services and accommodations. Researchers also stress the importance of improving professional development and training, recruiting service providers to meet demands within school systems, and developing culturally relevant standardized tests that are normed to Arab populations. One key consideration outlined by Begeny et al. (2018b) when examining the internationalization of school and educational psychology is the implementation of periodic needs assessments that are goal-oriented and culturally relevant. It is certainly a positive indicator that some researchers have conducted needs assessments within countries in the Arab World while considering the specific contexts and history of the region, and it is my hope that we see regular updates to the initiatives occurring within these Arab countries.

Gaps in the literature on school psychology in the Arab World. The aforementioned articles offer us a glimpse into school psychology in the Arab World. However, the articles focused primarily on the practice of school psychology, including aspects such as the history and infrastructure of school psychology in the region, training and licensure requirements, and challenges faced in the field. Arguably, it is also worth understanding scholarship within a discipline and the ways in which researchers within a global region engage in scholarship. It is interesting to note that the three countries found to have a school and educational psychology presence according to the aforementioned handbook and article are also considered high income countries as reported by the 2019 Global Wealth Databook (Credit Suisse Research Institute,

2019), reflecting three out of seven (or 43%) of the Arab World countries listed as high-income.

This finding may be related to the point raised by Begeny et al. (2021): school and educational psychology as a discipline may be best conceptualized as context of practice (e.g., schools and

23 educational settings) rather than specific roles and responsibilities, because such roles may differ within and across countries. This point is also supported by the previously reviewed studies that examined school and educational psychology in the Arab World (e.g., Alghorani, 2007; Stein,

2007; Alsoqaih et al., 2018).

Accordingly, there are professionals engaging in activities consistent with school and educational psychology in many countries that do not formally use school or educational psychology as a job title (also see data presented by Begeny et al., 2018b) and such countries may not have a dedicated graduate program for school and educational psychology. This is true in countries within and outside of the Arab World. Therefore, one contribution of the present study is that it closely examines regional and international scholarship and it includes input from school and educational psychology scholars from numerous countries in the Arab World.

Furthermore, the observation of income status prompts the question of whether the presence of school psychology is related to a country’s wealth and whether this will be reflected in international and/or regional scholarship patterns. Certainly, Arnett (2008) proposed the hypothesis that a country’s underrepresentation in international journals could be due to limited resources for research within that region. Relatedly, Cook, Jimerson, and Begeny (2010) empirically examined sociocultural and sociopolitical explanations of the presence of psychology and found that socioeconomic development of a country was significantly related to the degree to which school psychology was present in that country. Other explanations, in addition to socioeconomic development, included cultural modernity and the historical legacy of social welfare within a country.

In addition to examining international publication patterns (e.g., how is the Arab World represented in international scholarship in relation to other global regions?), it is critical to also

24 examine patterns within the Arab World (e.g., how are individual countries within the Arab

World represented in international or regional scholarship?). Previous studies have observed disparities in the representation of Arab countries in social sciences research. For example,

Jaalouk et al. (2012) found that the highest yearly research output in mental health scholarship produced in the Arab World came from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Lebanon. It would be of interest to see whether these patterns and other patterns noted by previous studies (e.g., scholarly communication patterns) are consistent with school and educational psychology scholarship.

Purpose and Research Questions

The primary purpose of this study is to explore patterns of scholarship that exist within the Arab World and attempt to explain such patterns. In doing so, I build on previous research about the internationalization of school and educational psychology as well as address some key limitations of previous studies. Quantitative data in the form of a bibliometric analysis of selected journals will aim to examine article characteristics pertinent to my research questions. I then supplement these quantitative data with interviews conducted with Arab scholars publishing research in school and education psychology.

To achieve the goals of the study, I developed the following research questions (RQs).

RQ1: What is the representation of countries within the Arab World in international school and educational psychology journals, and how does this compare to representation of Arab countries within identified Arab World-based school and educational psychology journals? Sub-questions include: How have these trends changed over the past five years (2014-2018) and to what extent do countries’ income groups (as specified by the World Bank) explain publication trends?

RQ2: What are characteristics (e.g., type of article and outcome variables) of articles published by authors affiliated with the Arab World and are there differences in characteristics between articles published in international journals and articles published in Arab World-affiliated journals?

RQ3: What are Arab World-affiliated scholars’ descriptions of the field of school and educational psychology, and what are their experiences with research and publication in the field of school and educational psychology?

RQ4: To what extent do themes emerging from participants’ interviews inform interpretation of quantitative results?

Method

Researcher Positionality and Reflexivity

I have extensive experience in bibliometric analyses and have been involved in research on the topic of internationalization for approximately eight years as of the time of this project. I am a woman whose family immigrated from Egypt to the United States when I was four years old. I was educated in the United States starting from kindergarten, attended an R1 university as an undergraduate student, and am presently completing my PhD at that same R1 university in the

United States. I am a dual citizen of Egypt and the United States and speak both English and

Arabic fluently, providing me with an advantage in communicating with scholars residing in the

Arab World. Due to my dual identity as an Egyptian and an American, I hold a position of being simultaneously an insider and an outsider in relation to the participants in the present study. I am an insider in that I am ethnically Egyptian and speak Arabic, and I am an outsider in that I am a citizen and resident of the United States and have completed all of my formal schooling in the

United States. This position may affect participants’ responses in a variety of ways. On the one

26 hand, it is possible that my affiliation with the United States can garner some mistrust or apprehension. On the other hand, my residence in the United States (as opposed to an Arab country) may allow for participants to speak more freely without fear of repercussions to their careers or academic positions. Finally, I approach my work with a conceptual framework of social justice and anti-colonialism.

Design

To answer the study research questions, I used a mixed methods design, which is a process of collecting, analyzing, and integrating both quantitative and qualitative data within a single study (Creswell, 2005). A mixed methods approach was used because neither quantitative nor qualitative methods alone can sufficiently answer the research questions at hand or capture the complex issue of school and educational psychology scholarship patterns within the Arab

World. More specifically, the present study utilized a sequential explanatory design. As is typical for this design, the study begins with a quantitative phase and follow up with a subsequent qualitative phase to assist in the interpretation and explanation of the quantitative results

(Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). Steps within each of the phases are described in the section below.

Quantitative Phase

The goal of the quantitative phase was to conduct a bibliometric analysis to assess publication characteristics and trends of four identified Arab World-based journals and four school and educational psychology journals.

Categorization of the Arab World. Categorizing the Arab World can be difficult given that the region can often be referred to by a variety of different phrases, including the Middle

East, Middle East and North Africa, Arab region, or the Arab World. In addition, the countries

27 that make up the Arab World span thousands of miles and comprise different cultures, political structures, and varying levels of socioeconomic development (Ibrahim, 2008; Jaalouk et al.,

2012). For the purposes of the current study and consistent with previous studies (e.g., Ibrahim,

2008; Jaalouk et al., 2012; Shehata, 2019), I categorized all 22 members of the Arab League as belonging to the Arab World. These countries included the following: Algeria, Bahrain,

Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,

Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen (WorldData.info, 2020; Council on Foreign Relations, 2020).

Selection and inclusion of Arab World-affiliated journals. Inclusion criteria for Arab

World-affiliated journals in the present study were as follows: (1) the journal is dedicated to school and educational psychology; (2) the journal has been in production from at least 2012; and (3) the journal is affiliated with the Arab World based on its production in one of the 22 member states of the Arab League. Selection and inclusion of Arab World-affiliated journals was initiated by reviewing Begeny et al.’s (2019) study, which identified 45 journals around the world that published work in school and educational psychology. From that study, three journals were identified that were affiliated with the Arab World: Islamic University of Gaza (IUG)

Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences (affiliated with Palestine), Journal of

Educational and Psychological Sciences (affiliated with Bahrain), and the Journal of Education and Psychology (affiliated with Saudi Arabia).

A systematic search via Google was conducted to potentially identify journals that may not have been found by Begeny et al. (2019). Keywords included “educational psychology journal” and “school psychology journal” paired with each of the 22 countries identified in the

Arab World (e.g., “educational psychology journal Algeria” and “school psychology journal

Algeria”). The first 50 hits were examined to identify any additional journals. Following this search, one additional journal was identified: Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

(affiliated with Oman). In summary, my final list of Arab World-affiliated journals consisted of the following four journals: IUG Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences, Journal of

Educational and Psychological Studies, Journal of Education and Psychology, and Journal of

Educational and Psychological Sciences.

Selection and inclusion of international school and educational psychology journals.

Begeny et al.’s (2019) study was examined to identify international journals that were not affiliated with the Arab World. Inclusion criteria for developing the initial list of journals were as follows: (1) the journal is dedicated to school and educational psychology; (2) the journal has been in production from at least 2012; (3) the journal is international, as indicated by its representation of authors from at least 10 different countries in the last 50 published articles from the final issue published in 2016 (as was reported by Begeny et al.); and (4) the journal was not produced in the Arab World. Nineteen journals identified by Begeny and colleagues fit these criteria. Then, I excluded journals that accepted or published manuscripts in languages that are not recognized as languages of instruction in the Arab World (Amin, 2009) (i.e., German,

Spanish, and Romanian). This exclusion resulted in a list of 13 journals. I then used a random number generator to randomly select four journals to include in the study. The final list of international journals to be included in the study were as follows: British Journal of Educational

Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, and School

Psychology International. Table 1 displays information about included school and educational psychology journals.

Variables and coding. Five years’ worth of articles (2014-2018) were reviewed from each of the journals selected for the present study. Four key variables were coded: author’s geographic affiliation, participants’ geographic location, type of article, and outcome variables.

The author’s geographic affiliation and participants’ geographic location were coded using numeric codes developed and assigned for each individual country. Countries were then grouped into geographic global regions using a classification system developed by the World Bank Group that consists of a total of seven geographic regions: East Asia & Pacific, Europe & Central Asia,

Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East & North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Sub-

Saharan Africa (World Bank, 2019). In addition to this classification system and to answer research questions specific to the present study, countries within the Middle East & North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa that are also one of the 22 member states in the Arab League were categorized as belonging to the Arab World. Of note, 20 of the member states of the Arab

League are affiliated with the Middle East & North Africa, and two (i.e., Comoros and Sudan) are affiliated with Sub-Saharan Africa. Although Iran is part of the Middle East & North Africa, it is not one of the 22 member states of the Arab League and was therefore not included in the separate coding variable for the Arab World.

Type of article was coded as follows. Each article was assigned one of the following three codes to describe the general design of the article: (1) non-empirical, non-experimental (e.g., narrative articles, commentaries, special issue introduction, etc.); (2) empirical, non-experimental

(e.g., descriptive, qualitative, systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses, and correlational research); and (3) empirical, experimental (e.g., differential and causal-experimental research).

These categories were adapted from previous studies that used bibliometric analyses to examine scholarship in school and educational psychology (e.g., Begeny et al., 2018a; Begeny et al.,

2018b; Bliss, Skinner, Hautau, & Carroli, 2008; Burns, Klingbeil, Ysseldyke, & Petersen-Brown,

2012; Villarreal, Gonzalez, McCormick, Simek, & Yoon, 2013). For empirical, experimental articles (i.e., articles identified as differential or causal-experimental), outcome variables were coded as one or more of the following variables that are common in articles in school and educational psychology (Villarreal et al., 2013): (1) academic, (2) social/behavioral, (3) cognitive, (4) emotional/internalizing, and (5) personality (e.g., personality types or personality characteristics). Refer to Appendix A for definitions of the types of articles and outcome variables.

Training coders, coding data, and measuring inter-coder reliability. The lead researcher, who has extensive knowledge in coding and analyzing data for bibliometric analyses, recruited a team of four research assistants to code articles. Following initial training, research assistants were assigned 20 articles to independently code and then send to the lead researcher.

The criterion to “pass” this initial coding assignment and code additional assigned articles for the present study was set at 90% (Hida et al., 2019; Nastasi, 2009). All research assistants passed or exceeded this criterion with a range of 90-92% inter-rater reliability among research assistants and the lead researcher. Following training, each coder was assigned articles from one or more of the journals included in the present study. Coded data were periodically reviewed by the lead author in order to ensure ongoing accuracy and consistency. Thirty-three percent of articles assigned to each coder were double-coded in order to assess inter-coder reliability. Total inter- coder reliability across all variables was 90.8%. Inter-coder reliability for each variable was as follows: authors’ geographic affiliation=94.8%; participants’ geographic location=91.0%; type of article=85.0%; outcome variables=86.5%.

Analysis of quantitative data. Consistent with previous bibliometric analyses, data collected in the quantitative phase of the study were analyzed primarily using descriptive statistics (Arnett, 2008; Begeny et al., 2018a; Begeny et al., 2018b; Hida et al., 2019) and chi- square analyses (Hida et al., 2019).

Qualitative Phase

The purpose of the qualitative phase is to “illustrate a particular issue” by helping elaborate on and elucidate results collected in the quantitative phase.

Sample Recruitment. Following the conclusion of the quantitative phase, bibliometric data were analyzed to identify the top contributing Arab scholars within the international journals and within the Arab World-affiliated journals. Of the international journals, three authors were identified as being affiliated with the Arab World. One author was excluded due to not being affiliated with a university. Therefore, two authors affiliated with the Arab World and who published in international journals were identified from the sample of articles included in this study. In order to recruit additional authors represented in international journals, all articles published between 2002-2018 in a total of 13 international school and educational psychology journals (i.e., British Journal of Educational Psychology, Canadian Journal of School

Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, Educational

Psychology Review, Journal of Applied School Psychology, Journal of School Psychology,

Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology Forum, School Psychology International, School

Psychology Quarterly, School Psychology Review, and Contemporary Educational Psychology) were reviewed to identify additional authors affiliated with the Arab World. From there, 14 additional first- and contributing authors were identified and invited to participate in the study via email. Of the Arab World-Affiliated journals, 32 authors represented top contributing

32 scholars who published 4 or more articles across five years’ worth of publications in all four journals (range of published articles=4-11). One author was excluded due to being affiliated with a non-university institution. Therefore, 31 authors representing authors primarily publishing in

Arab World-affiliated journals were invited to participate in the study via email. In sum, a total of 45 authors were recruited to participate in the study. Seven authors agreed to participate in the study. Four of the participants published primarily in international journals, and three participants published primarily in Arab World-affiliated journals.

Sample Demographics. Pseudonyms are used for all participants. Among the scholars who primarily published in international journals, one participant (Dr. Leila Amer) was a full professor at a private American university in Lebanon; another participant (Dr. Saad Ghaffari) was dually appointed as a full professor at a public university in Libya and as a cultural attache for Libya’s embassy in the United Kingdom; a third participant (Dr. Hamza Aref) was an assistant professor at a public university in Oman; and the fourth participant (Dr. Adnan Wahid) was a full professor in Oman at the same university as Dr. Aref. Among the scholars who primarily published in Arab World-affiliated journals, one participant (Dr. Taha Latif) was a full professor at a university in Egypt, one participant (Dr. Akram Malik) was a full professor at a university in Palestine, and the final participant (Dr. Khaled Saber) was an associate professor at the same university as Dr. Malik. Table 2 displays participants’ demographic variables.

Interviews. The interview protocol was grounded in the results from the first quantitative phase of the study. Please refer to Appendix B for the interview protocol. The goal of the qualitative phase was to elaborate on the results of the statistical tests by exploring and understanding why the Arab World is underrepresented in international school and educational psychology scholarship. I facilitated interviews in either Arabic or English per participant’s

33 preference. Three interviews (all of which were with scholars who published in international journals) were conducted primarily in English, and the remaining four interviews were conducted primarily in Arabic. Interviews were held via a secure web-based platform and lasted between 30-90 minutes. Interviews were audio-recorded in order to be transcribed, translated into English if needed, and coded later. The interview protocol followed a main-branches-of-a- tree interview structure in which the research problem is divided into generally equal parts and each part was covered with a main question or a “branch” (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). I asked the main questions and then asked follow-up questions as needed in order to obtain depth, detail, nuance, richness, and vividness for each part of the evaluation. The main-branches-of-a-tree interview structure favors obtaining breadth of information and is useful for researchers who have multiple sub-topics that they would like to cover (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). In addition and in accordance to Rubin and Rubin’s (2012) guidelines, the interview protocol was designed to ask relatively simpler questions in the beginning and transition to more complex questions as the interview continues.

Analysis of qualitative data. Each interview was audio-taped and transcribed verbatim

(Creswell, 2005). To facilitate analysis, interviews conducted in Arabic were translated to

English. The following steps were taken to complete qualitative analysis of the data: (1) a preliminary exploration of the data was conducted by reading all the transcripts and writing memos; (2) data were coded by segmenting and labeling the text; (3) similar codes were aggregated and then developed into themes; (4) themes were connected and interrelated; (5) a description of the phenomenon at hand was composed; and (6) cross-case thematic analysis was conducted (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). MAXQDA software was used to facilitate the qualitative data analysis process.

Results

Quantitative Results

Representation of the Arab World within international journals. Table 3 and Table 4 present information regarding author affiliations and participants’ location within international journals. Across all journals, the majority of articles included first authors from North America

(37.8%) and Europe & Central Asia (37.4%). Similarly, the majority of articles included participants from Europe & Central Asia (42.7%) and North America (25.9%). By contrast, articles that included first authors from the Arab World constituted 0.3% of articles across all international journals, representing two articles out of a total of 737, one of which was published in Contemporary Educational Psychology and the other of which was published in School

Psychology International. The first author of the article published in Contemporary Educational

Psychology is dually affiliated with universities in England and Saudi Arabia. The first author of the article published in School Psychology International is affiliated with the American

University of Beirut in Lebanon. An additional article published in the British Journal of

Educational Psychology included a contributing author from the Arab World (Saudi Arabia).

Articles that included participants from the Arab World represented 0.4% of articles across international journals, again representing two articles out of a total of 560 articles that included participants, both of which were published in School Psychology International. These two articles included participants from Bahrain and Lebanon, respectively. Table 5 displays the top represented countries within international journals. The top five represented countries include the

United States, Germany, Australia, England and Wales, and Canada, which are all included in a regional group referred by the United Nations as the Western European and Other States Group or WEOG.

Representation of the Arab World within Arab World-affiliated journals. Table 6 and Table 7 present information regarding author affiliations and participants’ location within journals affiliated with the Arab World. As expected, the vast majority of articles contained first authors (99.0%), contributing authors (98.4%), and participants (99.2%) from the Arab World.

Table 8 displays top represented countries within Arab World-affiliated journals, including Saudi

Arabia, Jordan, Palestine, Oman, and Egypt. Although a miniscule percentage, countries outside of the Arab World represented within Arab World-affiliated journals via first author affiliation included China (one article), India (one article), Israel (two articles), Mali (one article), Pakistan

(one article), Turkey (one article), and the United States (three articles). Contributing authors from outside of the Arab World were affiliated with India, England and Wales, Kyrgyzstan, and the United States. Finally, studies conducted outside of the Arab World included participants from Andorra, France, India, Israel, Mali, Turkey, and the United States; each of these countries represented only one article.

Differences in geographic representativeness among publication years. Table 9 and

Table 10 display data regarding differences in geographic representativeness according to publication years within international journals and in Arab World-affiliated journals, respectively. Among international journals, a significant trend was found wherein articles with a first author from the Arab World represented 1.6% of all articles (two out of 735 articles) and were published only in 2014 among the years examined in this study, with no articles by first authors from the Arab World published after 2014 (χ2(4) = 9.51, p = .05). Among Arab World- affiliated journals, a significant pattern was observed as reflected by a decline in articles with participants from outside of the Arab World (χ2(4) = 9.49, p = .05). Specifically, 9.7% of articles in 2014 included participants from outside the Arab World, and by 2018, only 3.3% of articles

36 included participants from outside the Arab World. Although statistically significant in terms of differences in geographic representativeness among publication years, it is clear that these percentages are relatively low throughout the time period evaluated in this study.

Income groups. The extent to which a country’s income status explains publication trends was examined. For context, at the time of this study, the World Bank (2019) categorized two of the 22 states (9.1%) within the Arab League as low-income (i.e., Comoros and Somalia);

10 (45.5%) as lower-middle income (i.e., Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco,

Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen); four (18.2%) as upper-middle income (i.e.,

Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Libya); and six (27.3%) as high income (i.e., Bahrain, Kuwait,

Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates). Table 11 displays data indicating a significant difference in the representation of countries with varying income statuses between articles published in international journals and articles published in Arab World-affiliated journals as reflected by author affiliation (χ2(3) = 453.86, p < .001) and participants’ location

(χ2(3) = 351.88, p < .001). Specifically, articles with first authors from high-income countries

(92.9%) and articles with participants from high-income countries (86.8%) represented the overwhelming majority of articles within international journals, with low- and middle-income countries representing 7.1% and 13.2% of first authors and participants in international journals, respectively. Among Arab World-affiliated journals, high-income countries represented 51.7% of first authors and 51.8% of participants, and low- and middle-income countries represented

48.3% of first authors and 48.2% of participants.

Article types. Table 12 displays data regarding differences in article types between articles published in international journals and those published in Arab World-affiliated journals.

Articles published in Arab World-affiliated journals employed primarily empirical non-

37 experimental methods (61.2%) and empirical experimental methods (34.8%), with a minority of articles employing non-empirical and non-experimental methods (3.7%). By contrast, articles in international journals reflected a relatively higher percentage of non-empirical non-experimental articles (16.9%) despite the overall prevalence of empirical non-experimental (60.3%) and empirical experimental (22.9%) methods. Articles in Arab World-affiliated journals included significantly more empirical and experimental methods than articles in international journals

(χ2(3) = 107.56, p < .001). In considering that Educational Psychologist published exclusively non-empirical, non-experimental articles between 2014-2018, analyses were conducted to control for articles published by Educational Psychologist. Results (after excluding articles published in Educational Psychologist) revealed significant differences (χ2(3) = 23.37, p < .001) and were generally consistent with results in which all articles were analyzed.

Outcome variables. Table 13 data regarding differences in outcome variables between experimental articles published in international journals and those published in Arab World- affiliated journals. Analyses revealed significant differences between international journals’ and

Arab World-affiliated journals’ evaluation of academic outcome variables. Specifically, Arab

World-affiliated journals published significantly more articles evaluating academic variables

(46.4%) compared to international journals (36.9%) (χ2(1) = 4.21, p = .04). In addition, 16 out of

371 experimental articles (4.3%) published in Arab World-affiliated journals evaluated personality as an outcome variable, whereas none of the articles published in international journals evaluated personality (χ2(1) = 7.47, p = .01). Overall, articles in international journals and articles in Arab World-affiliated journals share many similarities, including the finding that the majority of experimental articles in both international and Arab World-affiliated journals explore academic, cognitive, and emotional variables. Although both international and Arab

World-affiliated journals publish articles that examine social/behavioral outcomes, these articles are in the minority (16.7% and 13.2%, respectively).

Qualitative Results

School and educational psychology in the Arab World is still in its early stages, and there is no consistent terminology to describe specialists in schools or school-based psychological and counseling services. Participants identified a variety of different research topics being conducted by themselves and other researchers in their fields. A non-exhaustive list of research topics discussed by participants included measurement and evaluation; development of psychological tools; adaptation and validation of psychological instruments from regions such as Western Europe and the United States, hereafter referred to using the acronym WEIRD –

Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010), to Arab populations; teacher training; teacher-student relationship; teachers’ attitudes and perceptions; children’s trauma related to war and forced displacement (e.g., especially in Syria and Palestine in recent years); bullying and victimization; psychological services in schools; and the application of Islamic principles from the Qur’an and the prophetic tradition in educational psychology.

Most participants reported that “school psychology” is not a recognized field in their regions. For example, Dr. Amer said, “You’ll have a psychologist in a school, but not a school psychologist.” Participants discussed professionals who are referred to interchangeably with a variety of different names in Arabic, such as “murshid nafsy” (loosely translated to psychological counselor), “murshid ijtimaiy,” (loosely translated to social counselor), “murshid tullaby,” (loosely translated to student counselor), “muwajih tarbawy” (loosely translated to educational advisor), and “ikhsai ijtimaiy” (loosely translated to social specialist). There is

39 disagreement among those in schools on what to call these professionals. For example, Dr. Aref said, “There is a kind of confusion between whether to call them social workers or psychologists or counselors … And we are in such a state of chaos that we cannot get to a unified terminology or name for this position.” Regardless of the name for the position, these specialists in schools typically hold Bachelor’s degrees and provide services such as counseling and psychotherapy, academic coaching, and consultation to teachers and staff.

Challenges within the education field in the Arab World included issues such as students’ limited motivation and interest in school; issues related to privatization of education (e.g., private tutoring overtaking public schooling, specifically in Egypt); issues related to the hacking of school system servers and leaking copies of final exams prior to the final exams period; and issues in the teacher-student relationship related to classrooms being at over-capacity. Notably,

Dr. Saber discussed the role of school specialists within the context of the Israeli occupation of

Palestine. He said:

We live in an extremely stressful environment and conditions. We are under occupation.

There is a constant state of pressure, oppression, and aggression, whether aggression

through siege or direct aggression and direct violence, and this matter requires that the

counselor perform his role in immunizing students and in strengthening their

psychological state, psychological toughness, and psychological flexibility in dealing

with challenges and pressures so that students are able to maintain the motivation for

achievement and at the same time maintain their mental health in light of these strong and

difficult pressures … We are trying to provide preventive and treatment services to our

students, and we must enhance their psychological well-being in the face of stress. We

live in conditions, in fragile countries, in a land of stress. We are talking about ongoing

trauma that has continued from ’48 and before ’48 to this day, and this conflict is still

ongoing. Of course, pressure varies; the level of pressure exerted on us varies from stage

to stage according to the extent and intensity of the conflict existing in times of war.

We’re talking about disasters in the real sense, whether in the loss of lives or the

wounded or the lost, and all of these problems are at the height of intensity and severity.

And then that means the whole community, including children, need emergency/crisis

psychological services, and then after that we start various intervention services. We

intervene with all forms of intervention and all forms of psychotherapy in order to

preserve the mental health of children and the mental health of adults as well because

adults are also affected by what is happening to them … We work at all levels, whether at

the preventive level, where we strengthen the psychological immunity of the community

with its different segments to be able to deal with the various challenges we face, or

counseling services for simple problems, or psychotherapy and in-depth interventions in

the event that a person has developed certain disorders that require in-depth

psychotherapy.

Some participants said some children and families may hold negative attitudes or stigma toward psychology and psychologists and may have a poor understanding of a psychologist’s role. For example, Dr. Ghaffari said, “When you present yourself as a psychologist, people will not be happy to talk. They think, ‘I'm not mad.’ … And that's why psychologists and researchers try to disguise their role and they present themselves as social workers even if they’re not social workers because it's more acceptable within the society to deal with social workers.”

Dr. Latif said a school psychology Bachelor’s degree program was established at his university department in 2007. This program prepared students to administer psychodiagnostic

41 assessments (e.g., cognitive and academic tests as well as social, emotional, and behavioral measures). Per Dr. Latif, similar school psychology programs exist in other universities in Egypt.

However, Dr. Latif said faculty have not stayed connected with graduates from this school psychology program and are therefore unaware of graduates’ career directions, application of training, or challenges faced in their roles. Dr. Ghaffari expressed a desire to initiate a diploma program in Libya to train school psychologists and said he would like to adopt a training model similar to that of the United Kingdom.

In contrast to “school psychology,” “educational psychology” was described as a recognized field by all participants. However, participants reported varying degrees of applicability of educational psychology principles in practice. On the one hand, Dr. Amer said

Master’s students in educational psychology at her university in Lebanon typically specialize in either the guidance and counseling track or the measurement and evaluation track and typically work in school settings following graduation. Dr. Amer also said staff in her educational psychology program typically provide consultation to the Ministry of Education and consult with the Ministry of Education regarding research studies. On the other hand, Dr. Latif said universities in his home country of Egypt are disconnected from the Ministry of Education, and in fact, the Ministry of Education in Egypt has its own research centers and facilities. This disconnect between universities and the Ministry of Education limits the applicability of research conducted by university faculty and students. Therefore, Dr. Latif describes most of the research conducted in his university as “theoretical” and lacking any applied framework. Dr. Saber expressed similar concerns:

Our problem is a structural problem and a problem in the structure of the political system,

economic system, health, education, etc., of all state systems. Outdated and fragile

systems, and incomplete systems. Each system is running on its own. Universities are

moving in one direction, and … education … is moving in another direction. Now

scientific research itself is one of our biggest problems in that scientific research does not

contribute to on-the-ground application. There is no integration between research and

practice, whether the practice occurs in the community or the schools or anywhere else.

Communities and schools do not benefit from the results of scientific research. And

research findings have turned into something locked in drawers, locked in shelves, in

libraries, and then it is an actual effort that serves the researcher in the development of his

degrees, capabilities, and opportunities. But actually, society does not benefit from the

research. So, my problem, by God, is not where we rank on Scopus or Emerald, or where

are our rankings, or others. I think there is tremendous research effort that is largely

wasted due to the lack of any investment or benefit from the results and recommendations

of the research in a correct manner.

Dr. Ghaffari also described a larger focus on theory rather than practice in psychology and educational psychology programs in Libya: “You know what they’re talking about? They’re talking about the theory of Freud, the theory of behaviorism, cognitivism, etc., etc., but they don’t actually talk about real practice of psychology. So that is a problem.” Similarly, Dr. Aref said people typically do not find educational psychology or psychology in general applicable or useful in their everyday lives.

Promotion/tenure systems and university-based policies incentivize publication in highly ranked international journals. By and large, participants discussed that faculty’s research, teaching, and service records are considered in the promotion/tenure process, though most participants acknowledged that “what really tips the balance is the research,” as Dr. Amer

43 described. Participants who published internationally and participants who published within

Arab World-affiliated journals all said that the promotion/tenure system favors international journals over Arab World-affiliated journals and favors high-impact journals over low-impact journals or journals with no impact scores. Participants also said the promotion/tenure systems at their universities favor single-authored papers over co-authored papers due to single-authored papers indicating more innovation and individuality, though some universities are shifting this standard in order to encourage more collaboration. Dr. Amer described her university’s promotion/tenure system as “very rigorous” and said that Arab World-affiliated journals are not considered in the promotion/tenure process. Similarly, Dr. Aref’s and Dr. Wahid’s university set guidelines five years ago that require publications in Scopus journals and/or ISI journals for promotion. Dr. Aref, Dr. Ghaffari, Dr. Malik, Dr. Saber, and Dr. Wahid reported that their universities provide supplementary financial incentives to faculty who publish internationally

(e.g., in Scopus journals or International Scientific Indexing [ISI] journals).

Wahid published primarily in international journals, and Dr. Latif, Dr. Malik, and Dr. Saber published primarily in Arab World-affiliated journals. Dr. Amer referenced www.shamaa.org, a website that serves as a database for education journals in the Arab World, and referred to it as

“the ERIC of the Arab World.” Although Dr. Amer said she assisted in the development of this database, she said she does not consider Arab World-affiliated journals when considering publication outlets. Dr. Amer said she typically considers the impact factor of a journal and the

44 relevance of a journal when selecting publication outlets. In recent years, Dr. Amer has begun to shift away from journals affiliated with the United States and more toward journals that specifically indicate they are international journals. Dr. Amer said reviewers in United States journals tend to ask Dr. Amer to revise her manuscripts to discuss how an American audience or

American readers can benefit from her studies’ findings. Dr. Amer said these revisions result in a paper that no longer serves her intended audience of researchers and practitioners in her country.

Dr. Aref and Dr. Wahid said they publish the majority of their research in international journals, with a miniscule number of articles published in Arab World-affiliated journals. For example,

Dr. Wahid described that in the past 10 years, he published more than 30 papers in English and about four in Arabic. Dr. Wahid identified “knowing [his] weight in the international arena” as a motivator for him to publish internationally. Dr. Aref said he mostly publishes in Scopus journals or ISI journals and would rather not publish his research at all than publish in “low quality journals.” Dr. Ghaffari described “clear differences” between international journals and Arab

World-affiliated journals. He critiqued journals affiliated with obscure universities in the Arab

World and claimed faculty publish in these journals to obtain promotion.

Dr. Latif, Dr. Malik, and Dr. Saber discussed that publishing in Arab World-affiliated journals is advantageous and preferable to them due to their mastery of the Arabic language and, in contrast, their limited proficiency with the English language that poses limitations for publishing in international journals. Dr. Saber said, “Our mother tongue is Arabic. It’s the language we think in, and it’s the language we’ve mastered, and I do not prefer to publish something in another language I have not mastered. I prefer to publish in what I’ve mastered.”

Dr. Latif and Dr. Malik also identified some challenges with publishing in Arabic. Namely, both

Dr. Latif and Dr. Malik described instances in which their research work was stolen or

45 plagiarized. Dr. Malik, for example, described an incident in which a doctoral candidate plagiarized Dr. Malik’s research paper for her dissertation. Dr. Latif described an incident in which he was reviewing a manuscript for a journal and felt the content was familiar only to realize the content was plagiarized from Dr. Latif’s published research. Dr. Latif attributed this issue to the lack of a database that includes Arabic journals and features such as plagiarism software. In addition, Dr. Latif said because there is no database for Arabic journals, his research does not receive citations. Dr. Latif and Dr. Malik both expressed eagerness to publish in international journals. Dr. Latif identified receiving citations and having his research in a database as motivators for publishing internationally. Dr. Malik said, “There is a receptiveness outside of the Arab World, in Europe and in other regions. They respect creativity and appreciate scientific effort and are honored to get acquainted with what is new.” Based on this perception,

Dr. Malik expressed interest in publishing in international journals in order to benefit the international community.

Collaboration with researchers is somewhat challenged by promotion/tenure systems that favor single-authored papers, but despite this, most participants expressed eagerness and interest in collaborating with researchers within their countries or abroad.

Participants held various attitudes toward collaboration with other researchers and described different experiences. Dr. Amer reported being a member of multiple international organizations and, as a result, collaborating internationally on multiple occasions. Dr. Amer said her membership in international organizations facilitates international collaboration and described collaborations ranging from involvement in large research projects to requesting data analyses from colleagues. However, Dr. Amer described an incident during which she was applying for promotion and the committee penalized Dr. Amer for co-authoring papers with her Master’s

46 students. Dr. Amer said this incident was surprising to her because she assumed her collaboration with her Master’s students would be received favorably. Following this incident, Dr. Amer discontinued co-authoring papers with Master’s students for some time before resuming again.

Despite their universities’ tenure/promotion systems favoring single-authored papers, Dr. Aref,

Dr. Ghaffari, and Dr. Wahid expressed positive attitudes toward collaboration with other researchers, whether within their countries or abroad. Dr. Wahid said, “When you have … a big name or a name from the West, publication would be much easier. I have published with big names … and it was much easier to publish.” Dr. Saber expressed similar views. He reported collaborating internationally with a working team of researchers from two countries from

Western Europe and a GCC country and said he is willing to collaborate with researchers regardless of nationality. Dr. Saber said:

For most Arab researchers there is a language barrier except for Arab researchers

working in collaboration with foreigners. When one’s partner is a foreigner … he

publishes in the English language, and his research spreads because of the number of

citations. This puts him at an advanced level compared to others who publish in Arabic or

who do not have partnerships with foreigners.

Dr. Malik said collaboration within one’s university is typically the easiest as it facilitates face-to-face communication and is more convenient. Dr. Malik expressed mixed feelings toward collaboration. On the one hand, he expressed great enthusiasm and willingness to collaborate with other researchers. On the other hand, he questioned the individuality and presence of a researcher if all of one’s research is joint or co-authored and suggested that a large number of joint papers “may signal a kind of dependency.” In addition, Dr. Malik described collaboration as a process in which one researcher supports or assists another by saying, “Some new

47 researchers with limited experience need someone to hold their hands and encourage them to research. The experienced researcher should have a sense of responsibility for others and should energize the capabilities of others.” Dr. Malik mentioned incidents in which he involved faculty in his research to support them in their promotions. When asked whether he collaborates with other researchers in the Arab World, Dr. Latif said, “I don’t have a desire to collaborate with them, they are not that strong, and at the same time I think I will be carrying the whole load.” Dr.

Latif also said he has not considered asking colleagues to collaborate with him “because each of the colleagues regards himself highly and says he doesn’t need you for anything.” Dr. Latif expressed a preference for collaborating with current and former students and described this process as rewarding and mutually beneficial.

Factors contributing to the underrepresentation of the Arab World in international journals include political turmoil, financial barriers, linguistic barriers, and reviewers’ and editors’ biases. Participants provided a variety of responses when asked what factors they believe contribute to the underrepresentation of the Arab World in international school and educational psychology journals. Issues related to political turmoil, warfare, occupation, and social injustices were the most commonly cited factors by participants who published internationally and participants who published in Arab World-affiliated journals. Dr. Amer said the Lebanese currency experienced a significant devaluation, which has prompted civil unrest and daily protests and road blockades at the time of the present study. Dr. Ghaffari described ongoing political instability in Libya since 2011, including the lack of a unified government, lack of electricity, and wages for faculty and university staff that were either delayed or not paid at all. Dr. Ghaffari said university faculty have been working multiple jobs outside of universities to compensate for the cuts or delays to their salaries. Dr. Ghaffari said, “People [are] not actually

48 finding money to buy food for their kids, and so who is going to consider doing research? …

You need stability to do research. You need certainty.” Dr. Wahid said it is difficult for governments and universities to prioritize and fund scientific research when citizens of Oman are hungry. Dr. Latif discussed contentious relations between political parties in Egypt that result in acts of sabotage such as hacking of government servers and cutting electricity and Internet. Dr.

Malik described an incident in which he was prevented from traveling to Europe to serve as a visiting professor due to his status as a Palestinian under Israeli occupation. Similarly, Dr. Saber poignantly stated:

One of our very big challenges is that I, as a researcher, cannot legally actually travel.

How do I expect to participate in conferences? How do I expect to exchange experiences?

How do I expect to develop my capabilities and skills? How do I expect to share my

knowledge and experiences with others? … It is not possible because there are

difficulties in movement. The borders with our Arab neighbors are not open as we wish

and want, and travel is very complicated … For how many years have I not left the Gaza

Strip, even though I have wanted to really participate and be part of the Arab and

international academic community.

As discussed by multiple participants, the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated political unrest in many of these Arab countries.

All participants who published in Arab World-affiliated journals and all participants who published in international journals cited linguistic barriers as a factor contributing to the underrepresentation of the Arab World in international journals. Participants who published in

Arab World-affiliated journals discussed their lack of familiarity with communicating in written

English. Participants who published internationally said that despite their proficiency and

49 familiarity with writing in English, there continue to be detectable errors in their writing. For example, Dr. Wahid said, “We are not native speakers so reviewers notice and pick that up.”

While some participants such as Dr. Aref, Dr. Latif, and Dr. Malik pointed to translation tools and software available to researchers, they also acknowledged that these translation tools can be cost-prohibitive. In addition, multiple participants discussed the tacit conventions of writing in psychology or the social sciences that they feel can be more nuanced and complex than the natural sciences. As pointed out by Dr. Aref, if one relies on a translation tool, the translation may not capture field-specific terminology and would therefore not produce a useful translation.

In fact, Dr. Ghaffari said many doctoral students who travel from Libya to Europe with the intention of completing their doctoral degrees in psychology end up changing their program to programs such as mathematics, natural sciences, or education and cite linguistic demands in psychology as a main factor for changing their programs.

Participants who published internationally and participants who published in Arab

World-affiliated journals discussed issues such as costs and funding as significant barriers to international publication. Dr. Wahid compared funding Arab countries invest in research to funding countries like the United States, Germany, Japan, Korea, and China invest in research.

Dr. Wahid said, “We spend peanuts on research. Research here is still crawling. We haven’t gotten there.” In addition, Dr. Wahid drew attention to his observation of researchers of Arab heritage who travel to WEIRD countries and become successful in their career: “You’ll find a decent amount of these researchers in very high positions because the support is there.

Financially they are supported. Here, we don’t have that.” Dr. Amer said that while funding may be an issue “for some countries,” countries such as the GCC countries “have too much funding.”

Dr. Malik said the cost of publishing in some international journals prevents him from

50 submitting his manuscript to international publication outlets. Dr. Latif expressed a similar concern and highlighted his point by saying, “In some cases, the cost [of publication] can be around $400 USD. When you multiply $400 USD by 20 to convert to the Egyptian currency, that means 8,000 Egyptian pounds. This is not a simple cost. They do not make the publication process easy for us.”

Participants who published internationally and participants who published in Arab

World-affiliated journals discussed issues related to policies or politics of international journals that contribute to a rejection of frameworks or ideologies from the Arab World. Namely, Dr.

Malik discussed a research study he had conducted in which he examined global education within the context of the Qur’an. When Dr. Malik submitted this manuscript for review in a

Western European journal, “they rejected engaging with such topics.” Dr. Malik said, “Although they talk a lot about global and international education, when we present the Islamic vision through the Holy Qur’an, they do not like this approach … Where is tolerance? Where is cultural tolerance?”

Dr. Amer discussed a specific example in which she was adapting a behavioral tool originally developed by researchers in the United States to the Lebanese population:

We needed permission from the Ministry [of Education], and they reviewed the tool that

we wanted to use, and they objected to some items regarding sexual harassment … and

they asked us to remove them, and we removed them, and also this was done by the IRB

also. They told us that this might be culturally not relevant to be asked to children … So

we removed them … When we wrote the paper and submitted [it] for publication, the two

reviewers were objecting: “Why did you remove that item? Maybe this could have

lowered the validity of your research.” And they were making a big issue out of it, and

we had to tell them the ministry wouldn't allow us, and the IRB wouldn’t allow us. You

have these differences in cultural perspective … We really need to make people

understand that this is not the USA … You have to use the right terms in the right way,

the way it is acceptable in my culture.

Dr. Amer noted that although this is one example, “this has been happening all along.”

Dr. Wahid commented:

Most of the time we use tools or instruments that were developed in the West and we

adapt them to our setting or to our culture, and this sometimes has some difficulty, and

sometimes [reviewers] don’t take that seriously. Maybe this is at least my understanding

because sometimes I see some papers published in certain journals, and when I evaluate

those papers, they don’t look much stronger than, let’s say, my paper. My paper may be

rejected, but those papers were published … I think I understand their viewpoint that

research is not well-developed in our area and this is probably one of the reasons they

don’t take us seriously.

In addition to the use or adaptation of tools developed by researchers in WEIRD countries, Arab scholars alluded to the implementation of and research on interventions and approaches developed by WEIRD researchers. Notably, even in interviews conducted primarily in Arabic, researchers code-switched from Arabic to English in order to provide the English name of an approach or framework (e.g., “positive parenting”). As a note, the participant who discussed his research on positive parenting said that although positive parenting had a positive effect immediately following its implementation, treatment gains were not maintained in follow- up analyses, which the participant attributed to the approach’s “[incompatibility] with the nature or the existing and prevailing ideas in our Palestinian society and Eastern culture.”

There were some barriers to international publication discussed only by participants publishing in Arab World-affiliated journals, one of which is the existence of templates and standards for writing research to be published in international journals (e.g., APA Style). Dr.

Latif discussed the way in which he structures his manuscripts to tailor them to individual Arab

World-affiliated journals and the difficulty tailoring manuscripts to standards of APA Style. Dr.

Malik said many international journals “may have complicated templates and conditions.”

Another barrier discussed exclusively by authors who published in Arab World-affiliated journals is, as previously mentioned, restrictions related to travel and movement, especially in

Israeli-occupied Palestine. As reported by Dr. Malik and Dr. Saber, travel restrictions enforced upon them by the Israeli occupation have resulted in lost job opportunities, lost opportunities to travel to conferences and meetings, and an overall inability to fully participate in one’s regional and international academic community.

Participants who published in international journals discussed some factors contributing to the underrepresentation of the Arab World in international journals that were not discussed by participants who published in Arab World-affiliated journals. One of these factors was the idea that some Arab scholars “find easier ways to get promoted,” as stated by Dr. Amer. Dr. Ghaffari said the following:

We do not have research as you see it in America and the UK, so what we have now,

people would go and do some piece of work [that’s] more of a descriptive research, not

actual real research. No benefits at all … The differences [between articles published in

international journals and articles published in Arab World-affiliated journals] are clear

… The international journals are more rigid. Most of them scrutinize … They would need

something innovative and something creative to give it recognition to get it published

because they have a reputation they want to protect. They would not consider … any

piece of work … Research in the Arab World is just [fluff], you know, anything,

whatever. I cannot generalize.

Dr. Ghaffari added, “Research is done … in the name of promotion. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to play on personal promotion, but people need to do research to help. Research is meant to help, to change things, change practice, inform practice. It’s not happening.”

Another factor discussed exclusively by participants who published in international journals included the rejection of manuscripts submitted to international journals due to limitations in the methodology. Dr. Wahid said he and many of his colleagues in Oman are proficient in English, and therefore, manuscript rejections are not due to linguistic barriers; instead, most of the rejections are due to issues such as materials, tools, and sample sizes. Dr.

Wahid said reviewers often provide feedback about the generalizability or psychometric properties of tools or the generalizability of the samples included in his studies.

Discussion

The present study aimed to utilize a mixed methods design to understand school and educational psychology in the Arab World by examining five years’ worth of publications in international journals and in Arab World-affiliated journals as well as by interviewing school and educational psychology scholars within the Arab World.

Review of quantitative findings. Overall, quantitative data were consistent with data from prior studies that revealed an overrepresentation of WEIRD countries (referred to in prior studies as WEOG; e.g., Begeny et al., 2018a; Begeny et al., 2018b) and, conversely, a significant underrepresentation of the Arab World. Over time between 2014-2018, international journals did not show any increase in the representation of articles from the Arab World, and in fact, selected

54 international journals did not publish any articles written by Arab authors in the years following

2014. Also consistent with prior studies, findings revealed high-income countries were significantly overrepresented in international journals compared to middle- and low-income countries (Cook et al., 2010). In addition to examining international journals, this study analyzed data from four Arab World-affiliated school and educational psychology journals. Analyses of articles types and outcome variables showed that Arab World-affiliated journals published significantly more empirical experimental articles compared to international journals. In addition, there was overlap between outcome variables explored by authors who published Arab

World-affiliated journals and those explored by authors who published in international journals, albeit a statistically significant but practically small presence of articles exploring personality variables within Arab World-affiliated journals.

Review of qualitative findings. Qualitative analyses aimed to elucidate and explain these findings by way of in-depth interviews with Arab scholars. Consistent with prior studies and reports (e.g., Alghorani, 2007; Alsoqaih et al., 2018; Begeny et al., 2021), school and educational psychology in the Arab World is in its early stages, and practitioners providing psychological and counseling services are not described or referred to using consistent terminology either within individual Arab countries or across the Arab World, likely due to multiple factors, including that the field is still in development; that the roles or services provided by specialists in schools is unclear to students, families, and school personnel; and that there is stigma and an unclear understanding of psychology and psychologists within countries in the Arab World that extends to the avoidance of using terms such as “psychology” or

“psychologist.”

Exploration of promotion/tenure systems within universities in the Arab World is consistent with reports of institutional policies around the world that incentivize the reading, citing, and publishing of articles in journals with high impact factors or top rankings (e.g.,

Begeny et al., 2021; Bernardo et al., 2018; Gruber, 2014; Krell, 2012). All participants acknowledged a recognition of indicators such as journal impact factors and journal rankings at the university-level, and all but one participant expressed a desire to publish in journals with high impact factors and high rankings, whether motivated by factors such as gaining citations, preventing theft and plagiarism of one’s research works, benefiting an international audience of scholars and practitioners, or discovering one’s impact in the international arena. Despite these strong incentives to publish internationally, scholars cited a multitude of barriers to international publication and factors contributing to the underrepresentation of the Arab World within international journals, including issues related to occupation, political turmoil, and civil unrest that have negatively impacted or in many cases even halted research activities; issues related to financial barriers, including limited funding of research by Arab governments, cost-prohibitive publication fees in international journals, and delays and cuts to faculty’s salaries in the setting of political instability; linguistic barriers, both in terms of technical proficiency in the English language and in awareness of tacit conventions of writing and publishing in psychology; specific politics and policies of a journal that contribute to reviewers and editors rejecting or providing critical feedback to manuscript submissions with frameworks or contexts that differ from those in WEIRD countries; limitations in method (e.g., tools and sample sizes); and finally, a perception- particularly held by scholars who publish internationally- that many Arab scholars obtain promotion through purportedly easier avenues by publishing in obscure Arab World- affiliated journals. Many of these cited factors are consistent with researchers’ hypotheses about

56 factors challenging internationalization, including linguistic barriers (e.g., Begeny et al., 202; van de Vijver, 2013); funding (e.g., Arnett, 2008; Cook et al., 2010); editorial board representation and reviewers’ and editors’ biases (e.g., Arnett, 2008; Begeny et al., 2021; van de Vijver, 2013); and mobility (e.g., Woldegiyorgis, Proctor, & de Wit, 2018).

In addition, Ibrahim (2018) explored the impact of political events- particularly the Arab

Spring- on research productivity and discussed the increase in research productivity in the Arab

World following the Arab Spring. However, prior studies had not systematically addressed the ways in which political turmoil and civil unrest could act as barriers to research productivity in the Arab World both in the form of everyday immediate nuisances (e.g., Internet, power outages, and road blockades may prevent researchers from completing menial research tasks) and in more longstanding multifaceted and multisystemic inequities (e.g., Israeli occupation resulting in closing of borders and prevention of travel, governments underfunding scientific research due to other more pressing priorities; Arab scholars’ research being evaluated according to North

American and Western European metrics and standards and thus perceived as less relevant and less rigorous). Through qualitative interviews, the present study highlights how even though many former colonies obtained independence from nations such as the United States, Great

Britain, and France, extensions of colonialism still remain. One of the ways in which findings from this study can be understood and conceptualized is through an examination of academic colonialism, knowledge, and power.

Academic colonialism and its maintenance of academic dependency. Alatas (2003) drew parallels between academic colonialism and political and economic colonialism by referring to academic colonialism as “the domination of one people by another in their world of thinking” (Alatas, 2000, p. 24). The start of academic colonialism can be traced to the colonial

57 period, during which schools and universities were established in the colonies by colonial powers. In fact, Dr. Amer explicitly described the French influence on the Lebanese educational system that continues to this day. Academic colonialism is maintained by academic dependency, or the dependence of scholars in middle- and low-income countries on the social sciences of

WEIRD countries. As defined by Alatas (1999; 2000; 2003), dimensions of academic dependency include “(1) dependence on ideas, (2) dependence on the media of ideas, (3) dependence on the technology of education, (4) dependence on aid for research as well as teaching, (5) dependence on investment in education, and (6) dependence of Third World social scientists on demand in the West for their skills.” Participants reported engaging in research practices that reflected these dimensions, including using or adapting tools developed in WEIRD countries, aiming to publish in English in high-impact journals, existence of centers such as IRBs following the United States IRB model, pursuit of funding opportunities abroad, the existence of institutions such as American universities in Arab countries and the lauding of these universities, and a phenomenon referred to as “brain drain” wherein relatively highly educated students or professionals immigrate from their native low- or middle-income home countries to high-income countries for educational and/or career opportunities.

An important aspect of academic colonialism is the global division of labor in the social sciences, which has the following characteristics: “(1) the division between theoretical and empirical intellectual labor; (2) the division between other country studies and own country studies; and (3) the division between comparative and single case studies” (Alatas, 2003). The first characteristic is particularly salient to the findings of this study as it refers to the phenomenon that social sciences scholars in North America and Western Europe engage in both theoretical and empirical research while scholars in low- and middle-income countries conduct

58 mainly empirical research. This point has multiple implications for the findings of the present study. Firstly, there was a discrepancy between quantitative and qualitative data in that quantitative data found a significantly higher percentage of empirical experimental research in

Arab World-affiliated journals compared to international journals and, conversely, a significantly lower percentage of non-empirical non-experimental research in Arab World-affiliated journals compared to international journals. Interestingly, these quantitative data were inconsistent with the qualitative data in which some participants described research in the Arab World as

“theoretical,” “not actual real research,” “descriptive,” and “not that strong,” reflecting a psychological aspect to academic dependency whereby scholars in middle- and low-income countries are passive recipients of research agendas from WEIRD countries and hold a “shared sense of … intellectual inferiority against the West” (Lie, 1996).

Secondly, quantitative data of the present study that revealed a high percentage of empirical experimental research and a low percentage of non-empirical non-experimental research within Arab World-affiliated journals support Alatas’s (2003) description that WEIRD scholars publish both theoretical and empirical articles, whereas non-WEIRD researchers publish primarily empirical research. Similarly, Ergin and Alkan (2019) argue that the countries within the “global South” have been conceptualized as “data” or “cases” upon which scholars from countries within the “global North” can build theories of universal applicability and entitlement.

Unfortunately, this global division of labor wherein WEIRD countries are producers of theory and middle- and low-income countries are case providers results in the harmful notion that only certain countries can or will produce and affect social theory (Abrahams, 2007). Erin and Alkan posit, “Northern theory speaks out of nowhere whereas southern-related texts continuously affirm their context-based limitations, which significantly shapes writing practices” (p. 260). In

59 fact, this precisely aligns with Dr. Amer’s reported experiences of journal editors and reviewers requiring her to not only discuss contextual factors but also discuss how her findings are relevant or applicable to American readers or American populations. Connell (2007, p.368) makes a similar point: “Most theoretical texts are written in the Global North and most proceed on the assumption that where they are written does not matter at all.”

‘Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was a 14th century Arab Muslim scholar born in Tunis best known for his Muqadimmah, or introduction to scientific study of history. He is considered by many to be the father of social sciences (Ebih, 2020). He wrote about topics such as science, human society, dynasties and civilizations, epistemology, and theology (Alatas,

2006). Why, then, has Ibn Khaldun been excluded from serious study of the history of sociology? Nineteenth- and early 20th-century Western sociologists were aware of the influence of non-Western thought in the shaping of Western sociology. So-called founders of sociology such as Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim were so influential in developing sociology that many of their theories and models were applied to regions outside of Europe, while social thinkers outside of Europe and the United States were largely marginalized as in the case of Ibn Khaldun (Alatas, 2006). Ibn Khaldun discussed knowledge within the context of power: “There have been numerous sages among the nations of mankind. The knowledge that has not come down to us is larger than the knowledge that has. Where are the sciences of the

Persians that ‘Umar ordered to be wiped out at the time of the conquest? Where are the sciences of the Chaldaeans, the Syrians, and the Babylonians, and the scholarly products and the results that were theirs? Where are the sciences of the Copts, their predecessors” (Ibn Khaldun,

1378/1981)? Ibn Khaldun argued that every dynasty that comes to power destroys the existing knowledge that was advanced by the prior ruling dynasty in order to make itself dominant.

Edward Said (1935-2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia

University and one of the founders of postcolonial studies (Guhin & Wyrtzen, 2013). Said discussed at length the relationship between knowledge and power and the overlap of knowledge with colonialism. In fact, Said’s Orientalism was intended as a critique of “the general liberal consensus that ‘true’ knowledge is fundamentally nonpolitical (and conversely, that overt political knowledge is not ‘true’ knowledge) [which] obscures the highly if obscurely organized political circumstances obtaining when knowledge is produced” (Said, 1994). Said reveals the essentialist and epistemic levels of symbolic violence carried out in the production of knowledge in an imperial relationship between observer and observed. Importantly, although much of the postcolonial discourse has focused on essentialist and epistemic violence, much of the violence extends beyond the “symbolic,” and Said himself discussed the ways in which knowledge produced about the “other” was used to subjugate and control the minds, the material bodies, and the lands of colonized people (Guhin & Wyrtzen, 2013). Gayatri Spivak coined the term

“epistemic violence” to refer to the process by which Western knowledge precludes or destroys local or indigenous forms of knowledge (Spivak, 1998).

The power/knowledge relationship is relevant in our discussion of publication practices.

It is insufficient to ask who wields power; instead, it is important to ask what exercises of power look like, what is the mechanism and impact of power, and how does power happen (Jackson &

Mazzei, 2012). Data from the in-depth interviews conducted with Arab scholars revealed that proximity to and familiarity with WEIRD scientific traditions afforded scholars power and, in turn, facilitated the international publication process. This proximity looked like proficiency or mastery of the English language, access to funding and financial support, collaboration with researchers in WEIRD countries, professional affiliation with American universities,

61 opportunities to travel to universities abroad, receiving college- or graduate education from

WEIRD countries, membership in international organizations, and affiliation with U.S.-based professional organizations, to name a few. In contrast, scholars who did not have access to these resources, supports, or connections were at the margins and peripheries of the international scientific community. These processes occur within the larger context of academic colonialism that has contributed to the assigning of normative status to Western methodic knowledge and the rejection or subordination of other forms of knowing, a process referred to as epistemicide and epistemic colonization (Santos, 2016). Furthermore, this objectification is extended from the area of knowledge to the area of being, leading to what is characterized as ontological colonization, which is part of the coloniality of being (Maldonado-Torres, 2007).

A story that serves as a parallel to reports and findings from the present study is that of

Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), French West Indian psychiatrist and political philosopher from the

French colony of Martinique. Fanon supported Algeria’s War of Independence from France and was a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front. In April 1952, Fanon visited Saint-

Alban hospital, where he was introduced to institutional psychotherapy, a French psychiatric reform movement and approach that proposed a radical restructuring of the “insane asylum” whereby patients actively participated in running the mental health facility. Impressed by the model at Saint-Alban and inspired to revolutionize psychiatric care, Fanon applied widely to positions in psychiatric hospitals and accepted a position at the Blida-Joinville hospital in

Algeria, where he cared for a division with four pavilions, one of which consisted of European women and three of which consisted of Muslim men. By the time Fanon arrived at Blida-

Joinville, the hospital was overcrowded, underfunded, and in desperate need of change. Living conditions were dehumanizing, and the hospital looked, felt, and essentially operated like a

62 prison. Fanon applied institutional psychotherapy in these divisions by “[curing] the hospital” before curing its patients. He trained staff, nurses, and interns; organized classes and seminars for employees; encouraged staff to write daily observations in their diaries; urged staff to eat with patients, something previously forbidden; advocated for the removal of medical uniform to resist depersonalization; set up a café to facilitate social engagement; organized daily meetings; built a library; set up activities such as weaving, pottery, knitting, and gardening; organized sports; planned field trips; arranged parties and holiday celebrations; encouraged drama, singing, and other artistic productions; screened films; invited professional singers to perform at the hospital; and helped run a hospital newsletter that was printed by the patients in order to serve two functions, the first of which was to advertise the events of the day and the second of which was to be therapeutic and rehabilitative for the patients (Robcis, 2020). Upon implementing these interventions, Fanon observed institutional psychotherapy was instantly successful within the ward of European women; in contrast, the interventions were “a total failure” within the section of Muslim men, and the atmosphere was “oppressive, stifling” (Fanon, 2015, p. 304).

Fanon and his intern, Jacques Azoulay, reflected on the reasons behind this failure:

We had naively taken our division as a whole and believed we had adapted to this

Muslim society the frames of a particular Western society. . . . We had wanted to create

institutions and we had forgotten that all such approaches must be preceded with a

tenacious, real and concrete interrogation into the organic bases of the indigenous society.

How can we have been so misguided as to think that a Western-inspired social therapy

could be simply applied to a ward of Muslim patients? How was a structural analysis

possible if the geographic, historical, cultural and social frames were bracketed?

Ultimately, Fanon and Azoulay’s attempt to impose a Western grid in Algeria was a form of violence complicit with colonialism. In order to discern the factors that had contributed to this failure and to support a true “national culture,” Fanon and Azoulay traveled throughout Algeria to learn about Algerian Muslim traditions. Based on their travels in Algeria and their observations, Fanon and Azoulay identified the following obstacles that had contributed to the failure of institutional psychotherapy in Blida: (1) language was a barrier, as illustrated by the fact that none of the doctors, including Fanon, spoke Arabic; (2) most of the Muslim patients were illiterate, so reading and writing in the newsletter was not possible; (3) social gatherings were primarily religious or familial, so the Muslim patients were not always excited about general or abstract parties; (4) most of the patients had not been exposed to theater as the more popular form of entertainment in Algeria involved professional storytellers who traveled and recited epic folk poetry; (5) some of the activities, such as weaving, were perceived to be intrinsically feminine; and finally (6) films the patients rejected had plots that were too

“Western,” and the games the patients avoided playing were not recognizable to them.

Fanon and Alzounay took this newfound knowledge and adapted institutional psychotherapy to the Algerian context in the following ways: (1) they changed the movie selection; (2) they offered games that were familiar to Algerians; (3) they celebrated traditional

Muslim holidays; (4) they invited Muslim singers and professional storytellers to perform in the hospital; and (5) they established a café wherein patients could play cards or dominos as

Algerian men traditionally enjoyed doing after work. Day by day, the number of patients who engaged in these activities grew, and soon, the social fabric of the hospital had changed (Robcis,

2020). Unlike the “assimilated psychiatry” Fanon had tried to institute at the beginning (Fanon,

2015, p. 313), “this was a truly disalienated and disalienating psychiatry” (Robcis, 2020).

In the last pages of The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon (2004) wrote:

Come, comrades. The European game is finally over, we must look for something else.

We can do anything today provided we do not ape Europe, provided we are not obsessed

with catching up with Europe. . . . It is all too true, however, that we need a model,

schemas, and examples. For many of us the European model is the most elating. But we

have seen … how misleading such an imitation can be. European achievements,

European technology and European lifestyles must stop tempting us and leading us

astray. Let us decide not to imitate Europe. Let us not pay tribute to Europe by creating

states, institutions, and societies that draw their inspiration from it.

The act of rethinking and remaking institutions was central not only to Fanon’s psychiatric practice but also to his political project. In the same way Fanon aimed to create new healing institutions within the confines of a deeply colonial hospital, he tried to imagine new institutions to uphold the rising “Third World” (Fanon, 2014). The Wretched of the Earth, then, can be understood as a quest for the “model, schemas, and examples” that could disalienate and restructure the postcolonial social world (Robcis, 2020). Just as institutional psychotherapy never specified the content of its method, Fanon never proposed a definitive or prescriptive answer to this quest. In the same way, I offer the following recommendations to improve internationally representative scholarship and to challenge notions of academic colonialism without claiming to offer clear or conclusive answers. I follow these recommendations with questions for further consideration and reflection.

Recommendations to Improve Internationally Representative Scholarship and

Challenge Notions of Academic Colonialism. In considering findings from quantitative data, findings from qualitative data, and the extent to which qualitative findings inform interpretation

65 of quantitative findings, I generated the following recommendations to address and improve internationally representative scholarship and to challenge notions of academic colonialism.

1. It is important for there to be more serious, nuanced, and detailed theoretical commentary and empirical research on issues related to academic colonialism and academic dependency, the ways in which academic colonialism contributes to disparate underrepresentation of non-WEIRD countries in school and educational psychology scholarship, and strategies to challenge and dismantle academic colonialist structures. Research in these areas should be communicated to researchers, practitioners, and students via multiple avenues, including teaching, publication, and academic conferences.

2. Journals and publication outlets are encouraged to implement action items and systemic policies to address reviewers’ and editors’ biases. Examples of such action items and policies include the following. First, it may be informative for journals to complete assessments of reviewers’ recommendations for either rejection or publication of manuscripts and to analyze factors such as reviewers assigned to review manuscripts, the number of manuscripts rejected, the regions from which rejected manuscripts come, reasons for rejection, and trends and patterns over time. Such an assessment can provide much-needed insight about the extent to which editors’ and reviewers’ biases may contribute to rejection of manuscript, if that is indeed the case. Second, journals can provide editorial board members with systematic training, professional development, and opportunities for reflection and critique on the topics of internationalization, international representativeness of scholarship, and the ways in which academic colonialism undermines internationalization. Training can be in the form of written material to review, videos, tutorials, and workshops. Third, journals can appoint more editorial board members, associate editors, and reviewers affiliated with non-WEIRD countries (Begeny

66 et al., 2018). This may promote broader perspectives about international scholarship and cross- cultural research. Important to note, however, that appointing a reviewer or editorial board member who works outside of WEIRD countries does not necessarily mean the reviewer or editor will adopt a lens of intercultural competence and cultural sensitivity when reviewing manuscripts as reviewers from non-WEIRD countries, too, can internalize and ascribe to notions of academic colonialism.

3. Stakeholders in school and educational psychology must develop infrastructure (e.g., scholarships, fellowships, grants, free or reduced-cost tools and resources, opportunities for cross-national or cross-regional collaboration) to support international work in school and educational psychology. This point is highlighted further in consideration of the significant financial barriers reported by scholars in the present study and scholars’ recognition of the need for financial stability to conduct and prioritize research. Importantly, any measures to provide support and resources to low- and middle-income countries must ensure these measures are taken while practicing cultural sensitivity and cultural humility in order to resist enacting academically colonialist practices (Arnett, 2008; Begeny et al., 2018a).

4. School and educational psychology stakeholders can consider the value of translating journal articles in non-English languages. Translation of research work to non-English languages can promote dissemination of school and educational psychology scholarship and accessibility of published research (Martin, Nosik, & Carr, 2016). Scholars in the present study discussed exerting significant time, effort, and resources on translating English articles into Arabic as a step in the literature review process. Therefore, measures to translate English articles into other languages may not only fulfill the objective of disseminating scholarship more widely, but it can also further promote equity among scholars around the world.

5. Scholars and stakeholders are encouraged to consider ways in which they can address each of the six dimensions of academic dependency discussed by Alatas (2003). For example, the dimension of dependence on ideas from WEIRD countries can be addressed by intentional efforts to not only include European and North American thinkers but to feature the ideas and work of thinkers from non-WEIRD countries in psychology and school and educational psychology textbooks and other media. Instead of only featuring the work of Skinner, Piaget, and

Freud, scholars can consider including the works of Al-Razi (865-925), Ibn-Sina (980-1030), and

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111). These are a few influential Middle Eastern thinkers in psychology, and there are other classic thinkers and psychologists from other regions of the world beyond Europe and North America. This point can be strengthened by recognition of the enormous contributions civilizations such as China, India, and the Muslim world had in areas such as philosophy, theology, science, and medicine. For additional learning, readers are encouraged to study periods in history such as the Golden Age of Islam, which is understood to have dated from the 8th-14th century and was marked by cultural, economic, and scientific growth (Saliba, 1994).

6. Readers are encouraged to engage in ongoing learning and engagement with topics related to internationalization, academic colonialism and academic decolonization, imperialism, cross- cultural research, and so on. In addition to reading empirical research on these topics, I encourage readers to peruse a wide variety of outlets and avenues, including but not limited to novels, short stories, poetry, film, shows, documentaries, news articles, and discussions and conversations with friends and colleagues who may have insight on these topics.

7. Readers are encouraged to access the Shamaa Database (http://shamaa.org), which includes a comprehensive collection of open-access journals affiliated with the Arab World. Given the significant underrepresentation of the Arab World in international journals, it may be warranted

68 for readers interested in learning about local/indigenous research in the Arab World to access articles in Arab World-affiliated journals. The website has an option to display content in

English, and many journals have full articles in both Arabic and English.

8. Readers are urged to collaborate internationally in ways that promote values of internationalization such as cultural respect, cultural humility, reciprocity, inclusivity, and co- creation of knowledge (review Begeny, 2018a and Begeny, 2018b for an extended discussion of an overview and conceptual model of internationalization that discusses values central to internationalization). Begeny et al. (2021) proposed a number of ways in which scholars can initiate collaborative partnerships, including (a) searching for universities with school and educational psychology programs around the world (see https://sites.google.com/ncsu.edu/johnbegenyteam/projects/current-projects/internationalization for resources, including a list of known universities around the world with doctoral programs in school psychology and/or educational psychology); (b) identifying authors of chapters in international psychology handbooks (e.g., Jimerson et al., 2007); (c) browsing recent scholarly publications in journals around the world to identify authors publishing work in mutual areas of interest; and (d) attending international conferences and connect with scholars researching similar areas. The Internet and social media can serve as platforms to communicate with scholars around the world and to exchange research ideas. When collaborating internationally, it is important for all scholars to be considerate of and sensitive to potential structural barriers as well as each scholar’s strengths, skills, and goals for research, practice, and publication.

9. Educational policymakers in the Arab World can put forth initiatives to improve university systems as a well-developed tertiary education sector is necessary for the development of a brilliant and innovative social science community. Alatas (2003) proposed several areas

69 universities can target, including the following: (1) international benchmarking of research output and facilities; (2) competitive salaries and financial compensation to prevent and perhaps correct “brain drain” and to attract native scientists working abroad; (3) expansion and development of research facilities and technology such as libraries and scientific equipment; and

(4) measures to attract and recruit a critical mass of highly qualified postdoctoral students and researchers to conduct research in the Arab World. Importantly, participants reported several initiatives similar to the aforementioned measures that their universities have put in place.

10. Psychologists in the Arab World are encouraged to interact and collaborate with one another.

Alatas (2003) described that although there are many opportunities for scholars from non-

WEIRD countries to meet each other and work with one another, a byproduct of academic colonialism is that scholars are usually inclined to WEIRD regions for conferences and research opportunities. Initiatives to consider include establishing regional associations for school and educational psychology in the Arab World; promoting, developing, and creating opportunities for attendance and presentation at regional conferences; and providing financial and professional support for collaboration among countries in the Arab World. Such measures may strengthen and bolster local and indigenous research.

11. Journals, universities, and scholars can consider measures to address linguistic barriers reported by scholars who desire to publish in English. Specific action items journals can take include offering free access to resources and materials on the writing and publication process, developing mentorship programs for scholars, and offering free or reduced translation and language-editing tools. In addition, Arab scholars are encouraged to utilize online proofreading and grammar-checking tools to detect grammatical errors and typos and get feedback and suggestions on tone and writing style (Begeny et al., 2021). Comprehensive resources that

70 address strategies to overcome linguistic barriers may be especially useful for scholars interested in publishing internationally (e.g., Begeny et al., 2021; Curry & Lillis, 2004; Lillis, Magyar, &

Robinson‐Pant, 2010; Liu, 2004).

Questions for Further Reflection and Consideration

1. Throughout this paper, statements were qualified with urges for scholars to enact strategies with cultural sensitivity and cultural humility. In what ways can perhaps misguided or shortsighted attempts to increase international representativeness in scholarship further perpetuate issues of academic colonialism?

2. For Arab scholars who express disinterest in publishing internationally, what measures—if any—can be put in place to ensure their professional success and achievement in recognition of universities’ incentivization of publishing in high-impact international journals within promotion/tenure systems?

3. In what ways—if any—may participants’ reports of poor application of research findings and poor policies related to disparate international representativeness?

Limitations and Future Research Directions

A limitation of the present study is the inclusion of only school and educational psychology journals and exclusion of journals in closely related areas such as education, child development, child-clinical psychology, and social work. It is possible that Arab scholars in school and educational psychology do not exclusively publish in journals specific to school and educational psychology. However, including all journals school and educational psychologists publish in may be a difficult if not impossible feat. Nonetheless, future research may consider widening the scope of included journals in order to more closely examine patterns and trends.

Another limitation of the present study is I did not include all possible journal characteristics that could be relevant to international publication. For example, future research could explore the following variables or topics: (1) factors such as experimental designs and statistical analyses used in articles;, (2) journals’ aims and scopes and the extent to which publishing international research is included in a journal’s aims and scopes, (3) Arab World- affiliated journals’ editorial board representation, (4) patterns of international- and intercontinental collaboration, (5) journals’ policies for review of research conducted outside of

WEIRD countries, (6) tools and resources offered by journals to promote international representativeness, (7) publication fees and open-access policies of journals.

A final limitation of the present study is the years analyzed (e.g., 2014-2018). Future research may consider the benefit of analyzing a longer span of years in order to more closely explore changes over time.

Conclusion

The present study aimed to explore school and educational psychology in the Arab World through a mixed methods design utilizing quantitative analyses of articles within international- and Arab World-affiliated journals in school and educational psychology as well as qualitative analyses of in-depth interviews of Arab scholars. The study findings have important and relevant implications for the international school and educational psychology community. As is emphasized in our field, a process of data-based decision making was used to explore themes that emerged throughout the study and to develop strategies and recommendations for scholars and stakeholders to address these issues. At its core, psychology is meant to make sense of and give word to the human experience. Together, we can ensure that our scholarship fully reflects the depth of what it means to be human.

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APPENDICES

Appendix A: Definitions of Article Type and Outcome Variables

Article Type

1. Non-Empirical, Non-Experimental:

a. Narrative: The article reports on data and statistics obtained from other authors

and does not report original data, findings, or statistics. An example of a narrative

article is a book review.

2. Empirical, Non-Experimental:

a. Descriptive: The article reports descriptive statistics such as means and

frequency counts, does not include an independent variable, and does not report

on the relationship between or among measures. An example of a descriptive

article is an article reporting on questionnaire results about school climate.

b. Qualitative: The article gathers and reports non-numerical data. An example of

a qualitative article is a case study describing the experiences, challenges, and

strengths of a family that recently immigrated from China to the United States.

c. Systematic Literature Review/Meta-Analysis: The article conducts a systematic

review of literature on a certain topic and includes multiple articles in the review.

In a meta-analysis, statistics are used to synthesize and analyze previous article

findings. An example of a systematic literature review is a summary of key

findings of empirical research on early literacy strategies. An example of a meta-

analysis is an examination of the effects of parent tutoring strategies using effect

size calculations.

d. Correlational: The article measures and assesses the relationship between two

or more measures. An example of a correlational article is a study examining the

relationship between a child’s IQ and standardized end-of-grade test scores.

Empirical, Experimental:

a. Differential: The article reports on two or more groups that are different based

on a preexisting variable. The independent variable is a nonmanipulated

independent variable, such as sex, age, race, religious affiliation, ethnicity, etc. An

example of a differential article is a study reporting on differences in the

experiences of bullying and victimization between boys and girls.

b. Causal-Experimental: The article includes a manipulated independent variable

in order to establish a causal relationship between two or more variables. An

example of a causal-experimental article is a study that describes the effects of a

reading intervention on a group of elementary school students that is compared to

a group that did not receive the reading intervention (e.g., the control group).

Outcome Variables

1. Academic: The article measures performance in an academic area such as reading,

writing, math, social studies, or science. An example of an article with an academic

outcome variable is a study measuring the impact of a reading intervention on a group of

elementary-aged students.

2. Social/Behavioral: The article measures outcomes related to social and behavioral

interactions. An example of an article with a social/behavioral outcome variable is a

study describing the impact of an anti-bullying intervention on bullying behaviors in a

high school.

3. Cognitive: The article measures outcomes related to cognitive processes, such as working memory, processing speed, critical thinking, visual-spatial thinking abilities, etc.

An example of an article with a cognitive outcome variable is a study examining the impact of a cognitive exercise on critical thinking skills.

4. Emotional/Internalizing: The article measures variables that are typically not directly observable (e.g., mood, attitudes, beliefs), especially as related to social/behavioral variables. An example of an article with an emotional/internalizing variable is a study examining the effects of a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention on adolescents with depression.

5. Personality: The article measures variables related to personality or character. An example of an article with a personality variable is a study examining differences in groups of students based on their Big Five personality traits.

6. Other: The article measures a variable that is not captured within any of the five aforementioned variables. If an article is categorized as “Other,” please write the variable measured in the article.

Appendix B: Interview Protocol

1. Please tell me about your work. What do you do?

2. Please tell me about school and educational psychology in your region. What does research in the field typically look like? What does practice typically look like? What are some important issues in the field right now? What are some challenges in the field?

3. Please describe the promotion/tenure system within your university. What kinds of activities or accomplishments are incentivized by your university, and how? What kind of research or publications are incentivized, and how?

4. Please discuss your experiences with research and publication in school and educational psychology. What are the topics you research? In which outlets do you typically publish your work? What do you consider when selecting the outlets in which you’d like to publish? What is your intended audience?

5. Please describe the extent to which you collaborate with other researchers in different countries or continents. What do these collaborations look like?

6. Reviews of international scholarship have found a significant underrepresentation of research from the Arab World within international journals. What factors do you think contribute to the underrepresentation of research from the Arab World within international scholarship?

Table 1

Sample of School and Educational Psychology Journals Journal Name Publisher Country and Region Affiliation Language(s) British Journal of Educational Psychology England, Europe & Central Asia All content in English

Contemporary Educational Psychology Netherlands, Europe & Central Asia All content in English

Educational Psychologist England, Europe & Central Asia All content in English

IUG Journal of Educational and Psychological Palestine, Arab World Titles and abstracts in Arabic and Sciences English; full articles in Arabic

Journal of Education and Psychology Saudi Arabia, Arab World Titles and abstracts in Arabic and English; full articles in Arabic

Journal of Educational and Psychological Bahrain, Arab World Titles and abstracts in Arabic and Sciences English; full articles in Arabic

Journal of Educational and Psychological Oman, Arab World Titles and abstracts in Arabic and Studies English; full articles in Arabic

School Psychology International United States, North America All content in English

Table 2

Participants’ Demographics Pseudonym Role Country Affiliation Publishes primarily in international journals or in Arab World-affiliated journals? Leila Amer Full Professor Lebanon International journals Hamza Aref Assistant Professor Oman International journals Saad Ghaffari Full Professor Libya International journals Taha Latif Full Professor Egypt Arab World-affiliated journals Akram Malik Full Professor Palestine Arab World-affiliated journals Khaled Saber Associate Professor Palestine Arab World-affiliated journals Adnan Wahid Full Professor Oman International journals

Table 3

Author Affiliation (by Percentage) within Selected International Journals BJEP CEP EP SPI Total (n=191) (n=268) (n=84) (n=194) (n=737) First Author Arab World 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.5 0.3 East Asia & Pacific 18.0 18.3 10.7 27.3 19.7 Europe & Central Asia 55.6 37.7 21.4 26.3 37.4 Latin America & Caribbean 0.5 0.4 0.0 1.0 0.5 Non-Arab Middle East and North Africa 1.6 2.6 2.4 4.1 2.7 North America 24.3 40.3 65.5 35.6 37.8 South Asia 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.3 Non-Arab Sub-Saharan Africa 0.0 0.4 0.0 4.1 1.2 Contributing Authors Arab World 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.5 0.2 East Asia & Pacific 18.2 13.8 8.2 24.8 17.3 Europe & Central Asia 61.9 42.6 27.3 30.5 42.5 Latin America & Caribbean 0.8 0.4 0.0 0.7 0.5 Non-Arab Middle East and North Africa 1.1 1.0 1.8 2.3 1.4 North America 17.6 42.0 62.7 36.2 36.5 South Asia 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.7 0.2 Non-Arab Sub-Saharan Africa 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.3 1.2

Table 4

Participant Location (by Percentage) within Selected International Journals BJEP CEP EP SPI Total (n=174) (n=234) (n=0) (n=152) (n=560) Participant Location Arab World 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.3 0.4 East Asia & Pacific 19.0 19.2 0.0 38.2 24.3 Europe & Central Asia 60.3 38.5 0.0 28.9 42.7 Latin America & Caribbean 1.1 0.4 0.0 2.0 1.1 Non-Arab Middle East and North Africa 1.1 2.6 0.0 5.9 3.0 North America 17.8 38.9 0.0 15.1 25.9 South Asia 0.0 0.4 0.0 2.0 0.7 Non-Arab Sub-Saharan Africa 0.6 0.0 0.0 6.6 2.0

Table 5

Top Represented Countries within International Journals Country First Author Contributing Authors Participants United States 33.1 31.8 16.8 Germany 9.5 11.0 7.4 Australia 6.7 4.6 4.5 England and Wales 6.4 6.3 4.2 Canada 4.8 4.8 3.0 Netherlands 4.6 3.0 4.4 China 3.8 4.3 5.2 South Korea 3.4 1.7 3.4 Hong Kong 2.7 2.6 2.0 Finland 2.6 4.0 2.6 Israel 2.3 1.0 1.8 Italy 2.2 1.9 2.3 Belgium 2.0 2.5 1.6 France 1.8 1.6 1.1 Portugal 1.6 1.8 1.5 Spain 1.6 2.3 1.5

Table 6

Author Affiliation (by Percentage) within Selected Arab World-Affiliated Journals IUG JEPS JEPS JEP JEPS Total (Palestine) (Oman) (Saudi Arabia) (Bahrain) (n=1085) (n=344) (n=229) (n=151) (n=361) First Author Arab World 99.7 97.8 100.0 98.6 99.0 East Asia & Pacific 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.3 0.2 Europe & Central Asia 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 Latin America & Caribbean 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Non-Arab Middle East and North Africa 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.2 North America 0.0 1.3 0.0 0.0 0.3 South Asia 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.2 Non-Arab Sub-Saharan Africa 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.1 Contributing Authors Arab World 100.0 95.9 0.0 98.3 98.4 East Asia & Pacific 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Europe & Central Asia 0.0 2.3 0.0 0.6 0.8 Latin America & Caribbean 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Non-Arab Middle East and North Africa 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 North America 0.0 1.7 0.0 0.0 0.5 South Asia 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.1 0.3 Non-Arab Sub-Saharan Africa 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Table 7

Participant Location (by Percentage) within Selected Arab World-Affiliated Journals IUG JEPS JEPS JEP JEPS Total (Palestine) (Oman) (Saudi Arabia) (Bahrain) (n=1012) (n=337) (n=213) (n=128) (n=334) First Author Arab World 99.4 99.1 99.2 99.1 99.2 East Asia & Pacific 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Europe & Central Asia 0.6 0.0 0.8 0.0 0.3 Latin America & Caribbean 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Non-Arab Middle East and North Africa 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.1 North America 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.1 South Asia 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.2 Non-Arab Sub-Saharan Africa 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.1

Table 8

Top Represented Countries within Arab World-Affiliated Journals Country First Author Contributing Authors Participants Saudi Arabia 36.6 20.3 33.9 Jordan 27.3 37.8 26.1 Palestine 11.2 10.5 12.0 Oman 8.6 15.5 8.7 Egypt 5.3 2.3 3.7 Kuwait 3.6 4.4 3.6 Bahrain 1.5 1.6 1.1 Algeria 1.0 0.8 0.7 United Arab Emirates 0.9 2.6 0.8 Sudan 0.7 1.1 0.2 Iraq 0.7 0.8 0.6 Syria 0.5 0.0 0.6 Yemen 0.4 0.0 0.4 Lebanon 0.3 0.3 0.2 United States 0.3 0.5 0.

Table 9

Representation of Countries with Varying Income Statuses in International and Arab World-Affiliated Journals International Arab World-Affiliated χ2 p-value (n=735) (n=1085) Author Affiliation by Country Income Group1 453.86 <0.001*** Low Income 0.1% 0.1% Lower-Middle Income 0.4% 45.5% Upper-Middle Income 6.5% 2.4% High Income 92.9% 51.7% Participant Location by Country Income Group1 351.88 <0.001*** Low Income 0.9% 0.1% Lower-Middle Income 2.3% 46.2% Upper-Middle Income 10.0% 1.9% High Income 86.8% 51.8% ***p < 0.001 1 Income group was determined by data from the Global Wealth Databook (Credit Suisse Research Institute, 2019).

Table 10

Differences in Article Types between International Journals and Arab World-Affiliated Journals International Arab World-Affiliated χ2 p-value (n=735) (n=1085) Article Type 107.56 <0.001*** Non-Empirical Non-Experimental 16.9% 3.7% Empirical Non-Experimental 60.3% 61.2% Empirical Experimental 22.9% 34.8% ***p < 0.001

Table 11

Differences in Outcome Variables between International Journals and Arab World-Affiliated Journals International Arab World-Affiliated χ2 p-value (n=168) (n=371) Outcome Variable Academic 36.9% 46.4% 4.21 0.04* Cognitive 39.3% 41.8% 0.30 0.59 Emotional 37.5% 31.8% 1.68 0.20 Social/Behavioral 16.7% 13.2% 1.13 0.29 Personality 0.0% 4.3% 7.47 0.01** * p ≤ 0.05 ** p ≤ 0.01