As most of the scholarship about educational leadership and management refers to developed countries, our aim in this review is to systematically collect, document, scrutinise and critically analyse at time of writing date research on educational leadership in Arab countries and to identify the key strengths and weaknesses in the research literature. Based on a systematic review of 48 articles, it was found that the vast majority of research on Arab educational leadership focused on either identifying patterns of leadership styles and orientations and the barriers faced by educational leaders in applying some of the leadership models originated in Western scholarship, or on exploring and examining leaders' managerial perceptions and practices both in times of routine and reforms. Our analysis identified several theoretical, conceptual and methodological limitations contributing to and, in many cases, impeding researchers' ability to predict or explain the nature of Arab educational leadership.