Academic Advice from Sanjiv Das

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I came across the blog of Sanjiv Das after reading his 2007 paper published in Management Science (click here).

I find that his posting on “Need PhD?” provides some useful thoughts for early career researchers, prospective PhD students, and academics in general (click here).

I like the concluding remark: “If you “know” that you enjoy research and will love teaching, don’t mind working all the time, anytime, for small money but great personal satisfaction, then sign up now. But don’t do it because you think the lifestyle is great, or you believe some rosy picture of an academic in an ivory tower“.

Enjoy your reading!

UM III: Clear Promotion Criteria

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I am a strong advocate of a clear promotion criteria for academics. As pointed out by Kim et al. (2009: 354), the higher education sector is one of those knowledge-based industries in which individual productivity is recognizable and individual reputation is important.  Academics are always promoted based on their research output in recognition for their contribution to academia

What I mean by clear promotion criteria is that they should be objective and measurable. I would like to use University Malaya as a case study (click here for the full audit report).

UM has outlined her target of being ranked in the World’s Top 200 within 2 years and the World’s Top 100 within 5 years. To achieve that, the Vice Chancellor has outlined his strategic plans in the above report, and also the website of the Office of VC (click here). In terms of academic promotion criteria, it is clear that research productivity is rewarded by the university (see slides 12-14). More importantly, the criteria are objective and measurable, for instance 1) the number of citations; 2) h-index of researcher; 3) publications in Tier 1 and Tier journals.


UM II: A Model of Reward Structure for ISI/WoS Publications

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In my previous posting on National Academic Award (click here), I noted there is still much room for improvement in terms of the reward structure offered by my home university.

When designing a reward structure based on ISI/WoS (Web of Science) publications, it is important to first understand the underlying mechanisms. Several important points are highlighted here:

  1. Sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities are three different fields that cannot be put together (for details, click here). It just does not make sense to compare the impact factor of a science journal vs a social science journal.
  2. Even in the same field (sciences, social sciences, arts & humanities), the impact factor should be discipline-specific (for details, click here).
  3. Is the reward structure based on publications indexed in WoS or impact factor reported by Journal Citation Reports (JCR)? UM encourages her staffs to publish in journals indexed in ISI-WoS, which consists of 3 important components- Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (click here for notice dated 10/8/2010, and here for WoS fact sheet). However, if the reward structure is based on impact factor, one has to bear in mind that JCR only provide impact factors for journals indexed in SCI and SSCI, but not AHCI (click here and here). How do you then reward those staffs who publish in AHCI if the incentive is structured around impact factor?
  4. How do we define high impact journals? Well, not all journals indexed by ISI-WoS are considered high impact. UM defines high impact research as any research that could produce publications in Tier 1 or Tier 2 ISI/WoS journals (click here).  I suppose it is Q1 and Q2 in the JCR.
  5. The next related question is whether the university rewards publications indexed in ISI-WoS or just high impact journals. UM has structured her reward system according to ISI Journal Tiering, that is Q1- RM6000, Q2- RM4000, Q3- RM2000 and Q4- RM1000 (click here). Apart from that, the university has also announced a cash incentive of RM50,000 for each publication in Science or Nature (click here). This is a good model, not only in monetary terms but also in ensuring fairness across disciplines.


UM I: RM50,000 for Publication in Nature or Science

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When I was preparing a module on “Publishing in High Impact Journal” , my google search directed me to the website of UM Vice Chancellor Office (click here). I am really impressed by their focus on research excellence, in particularly their strong drive for ISI/WoS publications.

In a notice posted on 16/4/2010 (click here), UM VC has announced a new reward for publication in Science or Nature, i.e. a monetary reward of RM50,000 per paper. This is similar to the incentive given by Badminton Association of Malaysia for World Championships gold (click here or here). The most attractive part is that there is no limit to the number of paper one can claim, provided that UM academic staff is the first author. This incentive will surely motivate their staffs to publish in high quality journals.

As a Malaysian, I am glad to learn that UM is moving in the right direction, and hope that the university will one day be ranked among the top 100 leading universities in international rankings.


Grant Application Success

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The application result for Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), Round 2/2010, has been announced on August 19, 2010. Two applications from LSIBF were approved:

  1. Inclusion of Disabled People in Sabah Workforce: Investigating the Influence of Persons with Disabilities Act 2008, Personal Attributes and Organizational Context (Head of Project: Dr. Magdalene Ang)
  2. A New Measure of the Intensity of Capital Account Openness (Head of Project: Ling Tai Hu).

LSIBF would like to congratulate Dr. Magdalene, Ling Tai Hu and their respective team members for the success in this competitive national grant application.

Do note that Ling has just joined the school as a lecturer in April this year, after completing his master degree. His grant application success should motivate other staffs, especially young academics, to pursue research excellence.

The Irish Economy Blog

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As I was browsing the website of Prof. Philip R. Lane, I came to know about  The Irish Economy blog which he founded (click here). Perhaps, Malaysian economists can follow their approach, and connect with the public via blog.

Publication Alert

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LSIBF would like to congratulate its staffs- Hanudin Amin, Mohd Fahmi Ghazali and Rostinah Supinah- for the publication of their jointly written paper.  The details are as follows:

Amin, H., Ghazali, M.F. and Supinah, R. (2010) Determinants of Qardhul Hassan financing acceptance among Malaysian bank customers: an empirical analysis. International Journal of Business and Society, 11(1), 1-16.

Event Alert: Postgraduate Proposal Presentation

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There will be a postgratuate proposal presentation at LSIBF as follows:

  • Presenter:  Lim Shiok Ye
  • Title:  Long-run relationship of export, domestic demand and economic growth: some empirical evidence from ASEAN-5
  • Chair: Dr. Lim Kian Ping
  • Panel: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wong Hock Tsen
  • Venue: Seminar Room (Podium)
  • Date: July 28, 2010
  • Time: 10.30 am

The Ten Commandments for Academics

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Why indeed would anyone want to become an academic? What an academic actually does?  A paper jointly written by Michael McAleer and Les Oxley provides some understanding of an academic job description, as well as the associated responsibilities and enjoyment of being an academic. Their paper entitled “The Ten Commandments for Academics” is published in Journal of Economic Surveys, one of the leading economic journal with a current impact factor of 1.228 (click here for full paper, but requires subscription).

Their Ten Commandments are:

  1. Choose Intellectual Rewards over Money
  2. Seek Wisdom before Tenure
  3. Protect Freedom of Speech and Thought Vigorously
  4. Defend and Respect Intellectual Quests Passionately
  5. Embrace the Challenge of Teaching Undergraduate Students
  6. Acknowledge the Enjoyment in Supervising Graduate Students
  7. Be Generous with Office Hours
  8. Use Vacation Time Wisely
  9. Attend Excellent Conferences at Great Locations
  10. Age Gracefully Like Great Wine

The Ten Commandments for Ranking University Quality

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Prof. Michael McAleer, a world class economist and econometrician, shares his views on a list of important factors for assessing and ranking University Quality (for his research, click here). His paper entitled “The Ten Commandments for Ranking University Quality” is published in Journal of Economic Surveys, one of the leading economic journal with a current impact factor of 1.228 (click here for full paper, but requires subscription).

His Ten Commandments are:

  1. Know Yourself
  2. Appoint and Retain High-Quality Staff
  3. Accept that Size Does Matter
  4. Strike a Sensible Balance between Research and Teaching
  5. Determine the Importance of Research Centres and Research Staff
  6. Rank Research Output and Quality Using Objective Criteria
  7. Develop Objective Indicators of Teaching and Supervisory Quality
  8. Incorporate the Quality of Undergraduate and Graduate Students
  9. Evaluate the Quality of Overseas Students
  10. Avoid Ridicule