Since 1984, the Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques, an academic journal, has been publishing reviews of academic works on the Arab and Muslim worlds, from the medieval period to the early 20th century. The journal’s sections cover a large range of disciplines: language and literature; Islamology, law, philosophy and science; history and historiography; anthropology, ethnology, sociology and historical anthropology; arts and archaeology; codicology, palaeography, text editing and translation. It is published annually.

This journal is co-published by the Ifao and the “Medieval Islam” section of the UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée, between which a co-publishing agreement was signed on 19 March 2024.

The reviews are published in French, English and Arabic, while the languages of the books under review may be any European or Eastern language related to the field.

The members of the Editorial Board, who are all specialists in the humanities and social sciences in the Arab and Muslim worlds, conduct a literature review on the major publishing houses of the discipline, as well as on more specialized publishers, to identify the new academic works published in the fields. These books are reviewed by researchers, professors, scholars and advanced doctoral students, all of them being specialists in these fields. An expanding international network of scholarly reviewers is thus available to carry out the reviews.

The BCAI Editorial Board, which is coordinated by the Editor-in-Chief, receives the reviews, prepares the copy and carries out at least two proofreadings; modifications may be requested from the authors. The authors validate changes and the proofs before publication. Reviews in Arabic are formatted by Ifao’s Arabic-language editor. Layout, editing and online publishing are carried out by the Ifao’s editorial department.

The Editorial Board ensures that the reviews are neither insulting nor defamatory and reserves the right not to publish a defamatory text. The journal has adopted an ethical charter, which is available on the IFAO website.

Previous issues of the journal [1 (1984) to 33 (2019)] are available on the websites of Persée (https://www.persee.fr/); all issues are also available on the Ifao website (https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bcai/).