The Arab book market is relatively young and suffers from a lack of infrastructure with little information and few statistics available about the publishing industry. In the study “Publishing in the Arab world, 2015-2019”, led by Dr. Khaled Azb, translated to English by Yasmin Haj and Nourhan Tewfik, the challenges facing the industry are examined, whether piracy, poor distribution, lack of support for translation, the diminishing role of public and university libraries in supporting the industry, and the effects of the pandemic on the market. It also highlights the growth markets, the importance of book fairs, and the fact that readership averages have increased over past nine years, and consequently the number of books that have been published.

The study was originally published in Arabic by the Arab Publishers’ Association (APA)