Comprehensive research workshop

Prof Ramayah giving tips to improve academic research

A two-day comprehensive research workshop was held at Sungai Long Campus on 2 and 5 September 2016. The workshop aimed at improving academics’ research and publication skills.

“Publishing research is an integral part of a researcher’s professional life, as it advances the theory and practice of your fields, enhances institutions’ reputation and funding, and creates networks with other professionals worldwide,” said Prof T. Ramayah, from Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Department of Operations Management, School of Management.

“Both the number and quality of publications are the most important factors in deciding a researcher’s career; it is practically a matter of life and death,” he warned.

Prof Ramayah highlighted two important performance indicators that will make or break an academic research — the h-index and g-index.

The h-index measures quantity and quality, productivity and influence of a research. It has a chart to show the number of papers published by an author, and the citations of an author over time. However, the index will only work properly for comparing researchers working in the same field as citation conventions differ widely from field to field.

The g-index is an alternative to the h-index, which does not average the numbers of citations. The index is calculated based on the distribution of citations received by a given researcher's publications.

Prof Ramayah advised the audience to publish in higher-ranked journals listed in the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) to get a better impact factor.

He also warned that there are many predatory journals that researchers have to be aware of, as it will put a researcher’s career in jeopardy. “Jeffrey Beall’s website Scholarly Open Access offers a detailed list of blacklisted journals and publishers that you should stay away from,” he said.

Faculty of Accountancy and Management Dean Dr Sia Bee Chuan presenting Prof Ramayah a token of appreciation

Prof T. Ramayah is an avid researcher especially in the areas of Information Systems, Operations Management, Marketing Management and Organisational Behaviour. He is also an expert in Quantitative research methods and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

His publications which exceed 300 have appeared in the Journal of Environmental Management, Technovation, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Economics and Management, and Computers in Human Behavior.

This workshop was organised by the Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR).