Umm Al-Qura University won the 'Excellence Award' for the scientific production of Saudi universities in international databases, in its first edition, in the "Social Research" category, which was organized by the Saudi Digital Library (SDL) at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education in Riyadh. His Excellency Dr. Hamad Al Sheikh, Minister of Education, handed out the award to His Excellency the President of Umm Al-Qura University, Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Omar Bafail.

His Excellency the Minister of Education said, "The Saudi Digital Library, which is the largest at the level of the Middle East in terms of digital content that serves all research fields, is the main supporter of scientific production in the Saudi universities." He indicated that the 'Excellence Award' for the scientific production of Saudi universities published in the international scientific journals, in its first session, highlights the role of the library, increases the use of the different sources of shared information, and encourages the scientific and research movement.

The Supervisor General of the Saudi Digital Library, Dr. Saud bin Musa Al-Salahi, explained that the Ministry of Education exerts comprehensive and growing efforts to create and provide an ideal learning and scientific research environment, thus reflecting the importance of providing various sources of digital information which are easily accessible from any place and at any time. The efforts include offering bases and information sources on different topics to meet the information needs of the beneficiaries. He stated that SDL contains a huge collection of information and data, exceeding 200 million sources of information and including: 700 thousand books, scientific dissertations, conference papers, scientific essays in different specialties, scientific theses of Saudi scholarship students, and the scientific theses of Saudi universities.

Al-Salahi added that SDL contributed to slashing the cost of the universities' budgets by nearly 90%. This huge number of digital information sources contributed to boosting the Saudi scientific production ranking globally, moving it from the third to first place at the level of the Arab world in the last five years, and from the 56th place to reach the 27th place at the global level this year.

Regarding the award, Dr. Al-Salahi said, "SDL created the 'Excellence Award' for the scientific production of Saudi universities to highlight the role of the library in supporting scientific production, increasing the use of the digital information sources offered by the library, and boosting scientific research awareness such that the Saudi universities increased their use of the library by 36% this year." He then congratulated the winning universities and Saudi researchers in the three categories of the award.

His Excellency Prof. Abdullah bin Omar Bafail, President of Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), expressed his appreciation of the Wise Leadership's support of the educational process and the academic and administrative environment, enabling it to achieve excellence in the field of research which the community needs. He added and that Umm Al-Qura University's name must be included in the most influential research databases, globally. He also appreciated the support provided by the Minister of Education for the educational process and its associated research elements, stressing that UQU is developing its strategic plan, which is in line with the Saudi Vision 2030, with its strategic goal to be included in the list of the top 200 international universities. He then urged all the researchers to conduct scientific research which contributes to serving the nation and community, appreciating all the researchers who published their research studies through the global databases, particularly those who published their research within the scope of the award obtained by the university.

The Dean of the Deanship of Scientific Research, Dr. Abdul-Rahman Al-Ahdal, indicated that the "Social Research" category includes 10 specialties in the fields of psychology, economy, business, educational sciences, sociology, law, geography, in addition to media and communication sciences.