College of College of Graduate Studies

How to increase quality publications at Unisa

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The Unisa community, comprising academic, administrative, and professional staff and postgraduate students, was brought under one roof at the first Research Methodology Indaba hosted by the School of Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Studies (SIRGS) in the College of Graduate Studies (CGS) on 13 July 2021.

The event was aimed at unpacking research methodologies and how they may be applied to increase quality research publication. This is in line with the amended and approved 2020 Procedures for master’s and doctoral (M&D) degrees, where outputs form part of the examination process of the M&D processes.

Maximising research impact and publications

Dr Saleh Khamlich (Senior Researcher: UNESCO-Unisa Africa Chair in Nanosciences and Nanotechnology)

Dr Saleh Khamlich, a senior researcher at the UNESCO-Unisa Africa Chair in Nanosciences and Nanotechnology, facilitated the indaba and gave a presentation on the theme, Maximising the research impact and publications.

The indaba started with unpacking what constitutes systematic and scientific research and this was followed by the general goals of conducting research. The research design and methodologies in line with the research problems created a dialogue among the attendees who were from different disciplines and levels. Khamlich offered advice on the importance of a research process, including the planning, experimentation, and analysis phases.

The focus then turned to the quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods methodologies aligned with the philosophical foundations and research paradigms. The last part of the indaba addressed the building blocks of research proposals for funding where the flow of the funding application was discussed. Debate also ensued regarding why academics publish and why academics’ papers are published annually but only a few lead to knowledge production or new products and services that benefit society at large.

CGS has lined up a workshop with supervisors to discuss further and promote publications among students to address the institutional strategic objectives and to improve (i) Research Output by increasing per capita research output units and (ii) Research Citation Index to be one basis point above the national SA Index annually.

*By Tonny Matjila, Research Training & Development Officer, College of Graduate Studies

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Publish date: 2021-08-21 00:00:00.0

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