In 1986 Andreas Kaplony obtained a licentiate in general history, Arabic language and literature and philosophy from the University of Zurich.
After gaining his habilitation in 2001 in Islamic Studies at the University of Zurich (The Ḥaram of Jerusalem (324-1099): Temple, Friday Mosque, Area of Spiritual Power) from 2001 to 2004 he was a research fellow of the Gerda Henkel Foundation with the project Hub of the Silk Road : the organization of trade in Central Asia (7th-16th centuries) and lecturer and associate professor at the Oriental Seminar of the University of Zurich.
After the Qualification aux fonctions d'enseignant chercheur (maître de conférences, professeur d'université), Paris.
Since 2012 he has been co-editor of the journal Der Islam and the series Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East.
In 2015/2016 he looked through the holdings of the Austrian National Library as part of the Papyri of the Early Arab Period Online project .