We are what we say and do. That is the whole truth. In the universities, their academics are in the business of creating and disseminating knowledge, big and small. Hence, knowledge is the realm of the academia. Teaching and writing (papers and books) are the order of the day in a university, be it public or private university. Be that as it may, it is rather unbecoming for the academics in our faculty needed to be convinced by the powers-that-be to write papers worthy of publishing in citation index journals. I am really disturbed by this turn of event.
Upon being appointed as lecturers in the university, they have to get to the business of doing research and subsequently publish the findings, the sooner the better. Their seniors can help, but there is a limit to it. Most of the work has to come from them. Everyone should understand it. There is no need to remind them on matters related to their bread and butter. That much I can say about the duties of our academics.
When the dean has to mention repeatedly to the academics during the faculty meeting about the benefits of writing papers and books, I think there is something wrong somewhere in the system of appointing the academics itself. To my understanding, it is their duty all along to understand about their job specification or their KPI for that matter. I cannot imagine lecturers in the faculty who have not spoken in any conference or publishing a paper in a journal (as corresponding author) throughout their working life in the university. It is unthinkable!
I am not saying that publishing in a world-class journal is easy. For from that it is rather a daunting task to publish in such a journal. But, you can at least give a try. You know what? Give your best shot and wait for the verdict. Before you submit your papers, make sure that they have been properly written and carefully vetted by the co-authors. Do not for heaven sake submit half-cooked papers to the journals just to test the water or your luck. For all you know, the editors are looking for faults to reject your papers. Nowadays, there is no such thing as trying to help the up and coming scientists from the 3rd world countries. It was in the past but now no longer a culture. You are now competing with the world’s best. The rejection rate for high impact journals in agriculture can be as high as 75%. Be that as it may it still worth trying to publish in these journals. If by any stroke of luck your papers get accepted, you are then at par with scientists in the developed West. That is where you earn their respect.
Recently, I get a number of papers sent to me by journals for review, both local and abroad. Some are good and worthy of publishing in the intended journals, while others had grayed my hairs quickly after reading them. I just do not understand why the authors are in a hurry to submit the papers. Unthinkable mistakes are rampant in these papers. As these stories would have it, the authors are putting their reputation at stake:
1. This is a paper submitted to PJTAS (a UPM flagship). I concluded that this paper had not been read by the co-authors, whom I have great respect for their academic contributions. The senior author in his desire to get immediate promotion in an IPTA (not UPM) had bypassed the co-authors. His action is considered unthinkable in academia. He has put the reputation of the co-authors on public scrutiny, who in the end suffer in silence. So graduate students please take note of this.
2. This paper is submitted to an African journal with impact factor of 0.08. The page charge is USD 450, quite high for a journal published by a 3rd country. If the journal decides to publish the paper after my negative comments, it is digging its own grave! One of the mistakes that I could not take it is when the author mentioned that the pH of his soil was 4-6 mg/kg. Obviously, he does not understand that the word p stands for negative log of H ion concentration.
However, not all the papers that I have reviewed are bad. Some of them are excellent and are therefore worthy of publishing in the intended journals. For these papers, I gave my respect to the authors for their effort, and hence, I recommended them for publication. Here is one paper submitted by UKM academics to Water Resources Management with IF of > 2. They wrote a paper on soil erosion using the state-of-the-art RUSLE model. To me UKM has put the academics in the Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, UPM to shame. This paper is in Soil Physics, which only exist in UPM! I hope those concern take note.
Now the dean is encouraging our academics to write books. UPM is now giving good mark to writers for publication of books, recognition long overdue. Writing a book is not easy either. It requires will power and resilience. If you all need a tip or two from me, please pay me a visit. For your information, I have written quite a few. These are some of my books published recently by UPM Press:
1. Shamshuddin, J. 2006. Acid sulfate soils in Malaysia. UPM Press, Serdang.
2. Shamshuddin, J. 2006. The Earth Story: Lesson from the Quran and Science. UPM Press, Serdang.
3. Shamshuddin J. 2008. Dream and Reality: A Memoir. UPM Press, Serdang.
4. Shamshuddin, J. 2008. The Campus Tales. UPM Press, Serdang.
5. Shamshuddin, J and C.I. Fauziah. 2010. Weathered Tropical Soils: The Ultisols and Oxisols. UPM Press, Serdang.
6. Shamshuddin, J. 2010. Tips for the Academics: A Collection of Short Stories and Personal Opinions. UPM Press, Serdang.
7. Shamshudin, J. 2011. Methods in Soil Mineralogy. UPM Press, Serdang.
You can buy these books at staff price at UPM Press.
So much about writing journal papers and books! I hope you take heed of the dean’s advice. It is for your on good and the good of the faculty as well as the university.
