Journal publication not main criteria for promotion to professor

KUALA TERENGGANU: Journal publication is not the main criteria for lecturer promotion to professor and associate professor at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), said its vicechancellor Prof Datuk Dr Nor Aieni Mokhtar.

In a statement yesterday, she said other criteria for promotion as a professor at UMT include teaching trust, supervision, research, publication of indexed journal books and articles, knowledge transfer as well as academic and management leadership.

She said every promotion application submitted by UMT academicians must go through various strict vetting processes to meet the academic excellence requirements set by the Senate as the highest academic body at the university and approved by the University Board of Directors as the university’s highest authority body.

“Candidates must submit an application through the Dean, director of their respective institute or centre and if it is supported by the head of the department, a committee consisting of professors at the faculty, centre or institute will screen and evaluate the application.

“If a candidate fails to pass this internal screening, the application will not be extended to the vetting committee at the university level. However, when the application is brought to the vetting committee, it will be screened and evaluated by a committee composed of professors,” she said.

Last Sunday, a newspaper reported that, Malaysia was ranked fifth in terms of publishing predatory journals due to the attitude of some academicians who are seeking ‘shortcuts’ to be promoted to associate professor and professor.

The data was obtained from an international research involving 172 countries in four fields namely health sciences, life sciences, physical sciences and social sciences for a period of two years from 2015 to 2017.

Nor Aieni said in terms of publications, the university vetting committee would get confirmation of the publication data of each candidate through Scopus or WOS official portal.

She said if there were any journal articles that could not be verified or not indexed by Scopus or WOS, the articles submitted by the candidates would be rejected adding that at this stage, the committee will be able to trace any predatory journal.

“If they pass the screening, the candidate’s application will be submitted to an external evaluator consisting of professors in the relevant field who must have at least 15 HIndex achievements in the field of Science and Technology and 10 in the field of Social Sciences.

“Based on the guidelines, the candidate’s application must be supported by at least three appointed external evaluators, including one from abroad.

“The overall process reflects an application for promotion to the professor or associate professor post will be screened and evaluated transparently. This is to ensure that academicians who are promoted to the post are those who have proven achievement in their respective academic fields,” she said.