President's Message
The Saudi Biological Society held its first general assembly on the 28th of Muharram 1395 Hijra (10th February 1975), and so by the end of 1440 Hijra, forty five years would have passed since its establishment. The society has accomplished during this time a number of achievements we are proud of, the Society has organized (32) international meetings so far, including specialized scientific meetings in each field of the fields of biology. It has also held general scientific seminars in which various vital topics were discussed related to the environment and the development of the kingdom, starting from the desert, then the protection of the environment from pollution, the future of natural live resources, as well as the future of teaching biology in the public school sector. The number of research papers and articles presented at these meetings reached approximately 7500, and resulted in various recommendations in different fields related to Biology, which were forwarded to the specialized parties.
Of its achievements also, there is the publishing of printed material that included refereed publications, valuable books, and a scientific (ISI) journal (Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences) and is printed by Elsevier company in Germany, the Journal has an Impact Factor of 3.138 (2017 Journal Citation Reports), which was an important achievement to be proud of the society, the issue of the scientific journal (8) numbers annually in English, and (1) issue in Arabic. The Society issued special versions in Arabic and English and distributed in annual meetings, including: (Natural History of Saudi Arabia (A Bibliography)), (The desert and the potential exploitation), (Diseases shared between humans and animals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), (Water palm and camel symbols bright in a hundred bright Establishment), (Natural resources used in the twenty years of the reign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques), (Nanotechnology in Life Sciences) and (Arabian Oryx in the Arabian Peninsula). The Society also issued a media semi-annual magazine title (world life) distributed free to members of the society, the journal is cultural awareness.
The Society is also participating in celebrating many world and national occasions, including the world environmental day, and the centenary of Saudi Arabia, serving the community by providing scientific consultation to various quarters in the private and public sector, and is playing a major role in achieving communication and exchange of information and expertise between specialists in the field of Biological sciences in the Kingdom and abroad.
In 2 Safar 1425 Hijra (23 March, 2004), the day when the board members were honored with meeting his royal Highness, prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz – May Allah bless his soul, and had the honor of his highness accepting its Honorary Presidency and providing us, with a generous yearly subsidy. Since that time, the society was able to achieve its goals. It started with the Board of Directors setting out a plan to benefit from this tremendous support, including renovating the modest headquarters of the society, providing computers to the Secretariat, signing up a permanent secretary for the scientific journal, registering the journal with the most prominent international abstracts, and signing a contract with a specialized company in the field of designing internet sites, to set up a distinguished site for the society that can build continuous communication between the society and its members, as well as facilitating all the services required by the members, starting from filling in membership forms and ending with participating in its different activities.
Brothers, members of the society, on behalf of you all, in different areas of our beloved kingdom, I would like to I extend my sincere heartfelt prayers to Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz – May Allah bless his soul – for his unlimited support. Indeed, his Highness has achieved in one day, what we had wished for, for thirty years. God bless Sultan al-Khair who gave his generosity, presence and his gifts to human and science in this beloved country.
Prof. Ibrahim Abdulwahid Arif