The Capital Market Authority (CMA) announces the launch of the fourth batch of the Research Agenda Program for 2025, in its new and comprehensive form, with the establishment of the scientific committee formed by the CMA's Board last July, and the amendment of the mechanism for receiving research proposals to be in 3 periods during the year, in addition to identifying a number of proposed research areas for the fourth edition.

Through the Research Agenda Program, CMA aims to enhance the presence of the Saudi capital market in scientific literature, promote knowledge exchange between researchers and academics on one hand and practitioners in the capital market sector on the other, improve the quality of research and studies, and support policy-making and decision-making based on scientific research. Additionally, the program contributes to raising financial literacy and awareness among participants in the capital market.

Starting with the current batch of the Research Agenda Program, researchers will have the opportunity not only to submit proposals within the approved research areas but also to propose topics and areas outside of the predefined categories that they believe are important to the capital market and the CMA's core functions.

The proposed research areas for the current batch, as approved by the Scientific Committee, include: Capital Market and Market Microstructure, Derivatives Securities and Other Investment Products, Policy Impact Assessment, Behavioral Finance, Capital Market Institutions, Institutional and Foreign Investment, in addition to other topics and research areas suggested by applicants.

It is worth noting that, as part of the CMA's continuous efforts to develop the research agenda program and starting from the current batch 2025, the opportunity will be available to receive research proposals all year round, provided that the CMA shall review the said proposals within three periods; mid of January 2025, mid of March 2025 and mid of June 2025.

The 2025 Research Agenda Program reflects the CMA's commitment to its societal responsibility towards the research community, participants in the capital market, and other stakeholders. The program is part of the CMA's ongoing efforts to achieve the desired level of high-quality research outputs related to the capital market at the national level. Through the program, the CMA provides both technical and financial support for the completion of selected research projects and works to offer the necessary information and data to facilitate scientific research. ​

Since its launch in 2021, the program has achieved a number of successes, most notably expanding the scope of research cooperation with a large number of researchers affiliated with local and international academic institutions and research centers, in addition to increasing the number of research and studies published on the CMA's official website as well as publishing in scientific journals, which was positively reflected in achieving the objectives of the Research Agenda Program.

During the previous three editions of the program, the CMA received approximately 130 research proposals involving about 132 researchers from Saudi universities, compared to 50 international researchers affiliated with foreign academic institutions. Additionally, 20 researchers from other entities, including research centers and specialized institutes, participated. Several accepted studies were published on the CMA's website, and some were used to support policy-making and decision-making within the CMA. 

Regarding the academic qualifications of applicants in previous editions, 170 researchers held doctoral degrees. The experience levels of the applicants varied, with most having between 10–20 years of experience. 

The CMA invites researchers locally and internationally to submit their research proposals in the suggested areas through the designated electronic form by: 

1. Visiting the official CMA website. 

2. Downloading, completing, and submitting the research proposal form via email: Research.agenda@cma.org.sa

For more details, please visit the following link: 

Research Agenda ​