Monitoring intellectual output is a key indicator of the vitality of a country's publishing sector and the broader development of its cultural and intellectual landscape. In Morocco, both the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco and the King Abdul Aziz Al Saud Foundation for Islamic Studies and Human Sciences have released their annual reports on publishing activity. However, the figures they present differ significantly, raising a key question: which source provides the most accurate data? DR ‹ › The National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco held a press conference earlier this week to present publishing statistics for 2025. According to the data, Moroccans produced 7,143 titles, including books, collective works, and university theses converted into publications. In terms of format, printed books dominated, with 6,847 titles accounting for 95.85% of total publications, compared to 296 digital works (4.15%). Arabic remained the leading language, representing around 65% of publications, followed by French at 25%, while the rest were distributed across Amazigh, English, and other languages. By field, literature and creative writing topped the list with about 30% of publications, followed by humanities and social sciences (28%), religious studies (12%), and children's and young adult literature (around 10%). The remainder included academic research, translation, and scientific or technical works. The library noted a 6% increase compared to 2024, continuing an upward trend in national publishing output, which rose from 5,672 titles in 2022 to 7,143 in 2025. A different reading from the Al Saud Foundation Meanwhile, the King Abdul Aziz Al Saud Foundation for Islamic Studies and Human Sciences released its own report covering 2024–2025, reporting a total of 4,124 titles, an increase of 10.71%, with an annual average of 2,062 books. According to the foundation, 89.16% of publications were printed (3,677 titles), while 10.84% were digital (447 works). Arabic again led with 2,841 titles, followed by French (1,045), English (147), Amazigh (80), Spanish (10), and Portuguese (1). In terms of subject matter, literary works ranked first with 821 titles (22.72%), followed by law (574 titles, 15.89%), history (494 titles, 13.67%), and social studies (267 titles, 8.5%). Unlike the National Library, which began publishing annual summaries only recently, the Al Saud Foundation has been issuing reports since 2014, making it a widely used reference. Which figures are more reliable? The gap between the two reports raises questions about how publishing activity is measured in Morocco. The Al Saud Foundation's report focuses primarily on literature, humanities, and social sciences, and relies on a continuously updated internal database based on acquisitions and bibliographic tracking. While comprehensive, this method depends on the completeness of collected sources. By contrast, the National Library operates under Morocco's legal deposit system, governed by Law No. 68.99, which requires publishers and authors to submit copies of their works. This system provides a more exhaustive and direct record of national publishing output. Under this framework, publishers must deposit four copies of printed books and two copies of digital works, ensuring systematic coverage of published material. As a result, the National Library's data is generally considered more comprehensive, while reliance on partial datasets has, in the past, contributed to underestimating Morocco's publishing output in international comparisons.
