Basic situation: The “Arid Zone Research” in Uygur language was published in public by former Xinjiang Institute of Biology, Pedology and Desert Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1984. It has been sponsored by Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, since Xinjiang Institute of Geography and Xinjiang Institute of Biology, Pedology and Desert Research were reorganized on July 7, 1998. Up to the end of 2008, 98 issues in 25 volumes of “Arid Zone Research”, involving more than 1296 papers (translations), were published accumulatively. In which the proportion of the papers written by minority writers occupied 90% of the total. The “Arid Zone Research” in Uygur language is an academic quarterly in 16K with 80 pages.

Tenets of the journal: The tenets of the journal are to serve the exploitation, utilization and conservation of natural resources in aspects of water, land, biological and climatic resources, etc., and also serve the academic flourishing of the studies on natural resources in arid area.

Publishing contents: The contents include the academic papers, research achievements, investigation reports, academic developments, symposium information, etc. in aspects of biology, pedology, geography, etc. in arid area.

Readers: They include the scientists and technicians of the departments related to natural resources in arid area, university/college teachers and students in specialties of geography, biology, pedology, environmental protection, etc.

Characteristics of the journal: As the academic quarterlies aggregated the regionality, specialty and integration, the “Arid Land Geography” and “Arid Zone Research” have a big effect in Xinjiang and other provinces and autonomous regions by their own characteristics, and they have become as the big predominance, one of the signs of comprehensive strength, long-term accumulated intellectual property, and big intangible assets of our institute, and they are also the important windows for understanding the knowledge innovation project of our institute at home and abroad.

Social effects: The pertinent standards and regulations of the state and Chinese Academy of Sciences are strictly enforced whether in layout form or appearance designing in recent years, and the layout and publication of the academic journals have gradually got onto a scientific and standardized track. The journals have been dependent on Science Press from the first issue of 2001, and they are supported by the Publication Foundation and are the only two minority-language academic journals in the planned and managed academic journals of the press. ISSN was gotten for the journal in November 1999, and then the journal began to issue to the foreign countries. Currently, 2~3 shares of the journals are subscribed by foreign subscribers. “Arid Land Geography” was gloriously elected into the “China List of Journals” in 2002, it is the only elected minority-language journal in 505 scientific and technological journals with social effects and economic returns, and it makes a figure in the scientific and technological journals in China. As the only natural science journal in the 21 elected journals of Xinjiang in the “China List of Journals”, “Arid Land geography” achieves the optimal combination of social effects and economic returns.

Awards:

[1] “Third Award” of the Second (1991~1993) Appraisal and Comparison of Scientific and Technological Journals of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 1995;

[2] “First Award” of the Third (1994~1996) Appraisal and Comparison of Scientific and Technological Journals of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 1999;

[3] “First Award” of the Fourth (1997~1999) Appraisal and Comparison of Scientific and Technological Journals of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 1999;

[4] “Second Award” of the Fifth (2000~2001) Appraisal and Comparison of Scientific and Technological Journals of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 2001;

[5] “First Award” of the Sixth (2002~2003) Appraisal and Comparison of Scientific and Technological Journals of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 2003;

[6] “Second Award” of the Seventh (2004~2005) Appraisal and Comparison of Scientific and Technological Journals of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 2005;

[7] “Third Award” of the Eighth (2006~2007) Appraisal and Comparison of Scientific and Technological Journals of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 2007;