@CUDUAE PROFESSORS AT THE CANADIAN UNIVERSITY OF DUBAI SET UP UAE'S FIRST MATH JOURNAL

Young mathematicians aiming to raise the profile of education in the country.

Two professors from the Canadian University of Dubai have set up the region's first mathematics journal, giving number crunchers a new forum to get their papers published.
Dr Firuz Kamalov, 30, and Dr Ho Hon Leung, 29, have launched The Gulf Journal of Mathematics (www.gjom.org), an online compilation of mathematical papers, theories and analyses from leading mathematicians.
The journal is seen as a key way for the region’s academics to draw attention to their mathematical submissions in the face of perceived skepticism towards their work among international journals.
Dr. Leung, who graduated from Imperial College in London, said many Gulf institutions are much younger than their Western counterparts and as a result, established international journals view submissions from the Arab world with less authority than those from Western countries.
“We set this up as an alternative for people who don't want to send their articles to the West - they can now try a local journal,” he said.   
"We have submissions from the Gulf region, South Asia, Eastern Europe and some from the US and the UK. The majority are from this part of the world. The fact that we are receiving international submissions shows that we are gaining more and more respect across the world.”
Since its launch in August, the two professors have been overwhelmed by the response from the global mathematics community.
"In the first three months we had over one hundred submissions, which for a new journal is incredibly high,” said Dr Kamalov, who graduated from the University of Nebraska. “We accept maybe 30% of submissions - the top journals accept about 15% so we are on the right track.
"There is a strong mathematics community in the region so we got the word out by contacting potential authors and telling them there was a new journal to get their papers published. The first submissions came from them, but word has spread very quickly and people from all over the world are sending us things on their own. I think they see that we are providing something that no one has before."   

For more information visit www.gjom.org