About ASSR

Welcome to ASSR (Arab Social Science Research), an electronic clearinghouse for Social Science Research in the Arab world. ASSR is designed to link Arab social science research centers to one another and to the world through a virtual library specializing in social science resources. ASSR is a major program of the Arab Institute for Studies and Communication (AISC) to promote electronic networking and publishing in the Arab region.

AISC is an independent, non-profit region-wide institution currently active in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine. It was founded in 1998 by a group of senior social scientists from various regional leading institutions to promote social science and policy research, develop research organizations, and assist researchers in the Arab world and beyond. AISC is funded through unconditional donations and grants by international and regional organizations, and through partial cost recovery of the services it provides.

ASSR is a virtual public information repository that will facilitate the development, the dissemination of, and access to social science information among Arab universities and research institutions and exchanges with their regional and international counterparts. Arab social science has grown vigorously over the past three decades, and ASSR has emerged in response to the need to disseminate its findings. As part of a regional initiative to bring Arab social science centers online, ASSR is designed to facilitate their coordination and to provide common services.

Specifically, ASSR will

• promote electronic publishing of Arab social science research
• speed the integration of Arab social science research centers into the global pool of electronic information providers
• facilitate linkages between these centers and among Arab social scientists
• encourage the sharing of and access to Arab social science research data
• develop a virtual library for members of the ASSR Clearinghouse

ASSR wishes to acknowledge the long standing support of the FORD Foundation - Cairo since the launch of ASSR in October 1997. ASSR is also grateful for the support it received in spring 2002 from the United Nations Development Programme-Regional Bureau for Arab States (POGAR) to upgrade and translate ASSR's virtual library.. The resources on ASSR supplement those of the web site of the UNDP Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (www.undp-pogar.org).

We look forward to your participation and feedback as we continuously develop our library.

ASSR Knowledge Management Team    
info@assr.org