Given the keenness of the University to honor its employees - faculty members, researchers and students, and in support of the spirit of competitiveness directed towards scientific research, and to further raise the level of scientific excellence; the University established King Saud University Award for Scientific Excellence- an annual award that seeks to create an environment for distinguished research, creativity and innovation. The motivations for initiating such an Award are as follows:

1.  To serve the first objective of KSU 2030 Strategic Plan related to research quality and excellence through raising the academic and scientific standards of research to serve the community; and contribute to the realization of excellence in various scientific fields. In order to highlight its significance, the goal of excellence has occupied the top echelon on the list of the objectives in KSU 2030 Strategic Plan.

2.  To serve the various initiatives in the strategic plan programs, especially the faculty members-related initiative, which emphasizes the increase of incentives and the improvement of the support given to them. One of the objectives of this initiative is to provide faculty members with a supportive and stimulating environment conducive to boosting faculty members’ performance and their research output.

3.  To embody the values adopted in developing the University such as “Quality and

      Excellence” and “Creativity and Innovation”.

4.  To serve the Strategic Plan of the Deanship of Scientific Research, which comprises eight (8) objectives, some of which are:

1. Research excellence with a view to  global leadership

1. Development of human resources at the University to foster scientific research outputs.
2. Contribute to build a knowledge-based society and service to industrial and growth priorities in the Kingdom. 
3. Provide a stimulating research environment for researchers and for scientific research in University

The award is consists of nine categories, namely: The Life-time Achievement Award;  Scientific Research Quality Award; Elite Journals Publishing Award; Discoveries, Innovations and Technology Licensing Award; Excellence in Obtaining External Funding for Research Award; Best Authored Book Award; Best Translated Book Award; Entrepreneurship Leadership Award and the Students’ Research Excellence  Award

The Award’s Board and Executive Committee supervise the procedures of nomination and submission according to the criteria and regulations stipulated for each of the categories of the awards. The Award’s Executive Committee forms specialized jury sub-committees to choose the best candidates.