Smart Evaluation Process of Publishing Academic Articles:

Auhtor: Associate Professor Dr Razidah Ismail, Research Management Institution, MARA University of Technology, Shah Alam, Malaysia

 

The publication division of Research Management Institution, MARA University of Technology, Malaysia had organized a one-day workshop on the evaluation process of publishing academic articles with the objective of empowering the academic staff of UiTM. The workshops were held on 20 August 2008 and 21 August 2008 for two different groups, split according to their background - basic and social sciences.  Dr. Mohammad Samaun Safa, who was the speaker and trainer, had shared his valuable experiences as editor and reviewer of several international journals. He is the Founder editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship and the International Journal of Business and Management Research published by Binary University College and MARA University of Technology MARA respectively. 

Dr. Safa began his session by focusing on the background of evaluation process in publishing academic articles and the recent development in Instrument Based Assessment (IBA). He shed light on the drawbacks of the prevailing evaluation  systems and the relevant impacts. In order to remedy the shortalfalls and step up the evaluation process to a more convenient and authentic level, he then introduced a new evaluation system called the SAFA™ system. In the afternoon, a hands-on session  took place where the participants learnt about the software, SAFA™ Calculator v1.1, developed based on the SAFA™ system.  Each participants was given an article to review individually and the review had to be done accoroding to the guidlines provided in the training materials with the help of the software. The workshop was concluded with a participative discussion on the different evaluation-outcome by the participants with reasoning.

Prior to this workshop, Dr. Safa shared his experience in another seminar on ”Editor’s role: Quality Control in Journal Publication” which was also organised by the publication division on 4 July 2008. The main theme of the seminar was creating  awareness of quality publication through quality editorial work. Dr. Safa also proposed some policy reformation for the enhancement of UiTM publication culture and strenghening the publication effort to be a worldclass university. He concluded the seminar by urging the UiTM community to be aware of the eithical aspects of publication process.   

RMI is indebted to Dr Safa for sharing his valuable experiences and contributing to initialize a competitive publication environment in UiTM.