Journal of Research Management and Governance
The Journal of Research Management and Governance (JRMG) (e-ISSN: 2637-1103) is a peer reviewed and open access journal published by Universiti Malaya. The main aim of JRMG is to provide a platform for the sharing of knowledge in the broad area of research management and governance. Articles published in JRMG cover all aspects related to the management and governance of research in higher education, research institutes and organisations, as well as funding bodies and agencies.
Articles submitted to the journal should not have been published before in their current or substantially similar form, or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors submitting articles for publication warrant that the work is not an infringement of any existing copyright and will indemnify the publisher against any breach of such warranty. For ease of dissemination and to ensure proper policing of use, papers and contributions become the legal copyright of the publisher unless otherwise agreed. By submitting a manuscript, the author(s) agree that copyright for the article is transferred to the publisher, if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. However, it can be reprinted with a proper acknowledgement that it was published in JRMG. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
It is our distinct pleasure to welcome you to the latest issue of the Journal of Research Management and Governance (JRMG). As we navigate an increasingly challenging research landscape, the importance of effective research management has never been more apparent.
Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Research Management and Governance http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
Empowering Research Ecosystems: Profiles and Bibliometrics Analysis of Research Officers at Universiti Malaya
The future trajectory of Universiti Malaya (UM) as a prominent regional research institution in Malaysia is intricately intertwined with the expertise and contributions of its research workforce, including the Research Officers (ROs). Given the pivotal role played by ROs in UM's research and innovation landscape, this paper briefly highlights an overview of their general roles in empowering UM's research and innovation landscape. The UM's ROs were profiled according to their gender, educational background, position, and grade. The study employs bibliometric analysis using data from the Scopus database to examine the scholarly output of ROs, focusing on their H-index, research fields, and the number of scientific publications produced between 2018 and 2022. The bibliometric impact analysis was performed by focusing on the citation of the publications, joint-publications network, and correlation of publications' contribution between the ROs over all the researchers in UM. The profile analysis indicates that ROs in UM are dominated by females, with postgraduate education qualification, and mostly holding entry-level positions (grade 41). The impact analysis shows that UM's ROs had an international network with 27% of their publications being jointly authored with international collaborators. They consistently contribute dto scholarly output by showing a coherent trend with the overall publication of UM. This work highlights the significant role of ROs in a Malaysian research university, setting the benchmark for other national universities in enhancing the credibility of ROs in achieving research and innovation excellence.
Setting the Benchmark: A Comparative Analysis of Research Performance Indicators between Leading World Research Universities and Top-Ranked Research Universities in Malaysia
The National Higher Education Strategic Plan 2007-2020 and the Malaysia Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025 aim to strengthen research and innovation in Malaysian universities, positioning them as world-class institutions. As a result of these national initiatives, six Malaysian universities have been ranked among the top 500 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024. This paper examines the institutional research performance of the top-ranked Malaysian universities in comparison to the leading world universities. Ten top-ranked world and Malaysian universities were identified based on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024. Bibliometric indicators from Elsevier's SciVal were used to compare research performance among these universities from 2018 to 2023. The results indicate that the leading world universities outperform the top-ranked Malaysian universities in areas such as scholarly output, citation counts, and research impact measured by citations and publication in top journal percentiles. They are pioneers in their respective subject areas, with citations of their publications being twice the world average. Malaysian universities are active in international co-authorship but show lower impact, reflecting a growing yet developing academic influence compared to leading world universities. The publication landscape of the world's leading universities is dominated by the subject areas of Medicine, and Physics and Astronomy. Malaysian universities demonstrate a broader range of subject area preferences, with a strong emphasis on Engineering. By benchmarking against the world's leading institutions, Malaysian universities can identify areas for research improvements to enhance their world rankings.
Framework to Humanise Research Support in Academic Institutions
Purpose The purpose of the study is to identify the attributes to build a successful research management ecosystem, to understand the extent to which identified attributes contribute to successful research support environment, and to develop a framework for strong research management in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Methodology This study used a mixed-method approach. Through recorded discussion with academics and non-academics involved in research and research support, we identified the areas to be addressed for an efficient research experience. We then conducted a pilot study with 50 participants to validate the findings from the qualitative analysis. Findings We found that a research management ecosystem system requires ethical conduct from individuals and an ethical culture which is grounded on honourable behaviour of all organisational participants. This is not only aligned to Malaysian codes of responsible conduct in research but is also in accordance with existing guidelines. A new framework is suggested in this paper based on which, universities can create a research ecosystem that balances global goals with local relevance, resulting in a collaborative working model that is more strategic.
Reshaping Research Ecosystems: Recommendations for Equitable Recognition of Non-STEM Research in Higher Institution Management
Historically, the trend in academia towards measurable measures has marginalised non-STEM, arts, and humanities subjects, often at the price of their inherent academic principles and capabilities. This review of the literature explores the shift in university policies and practises, emphasising the need for a more compassionate and inclusive approach to research administration. This study analyses a variety of scientific articles using an extensive keyword search on Lens.org to evaluate the obstacles and recommendations for equal career progression in non-STEM disciplines. The findings indicate a rising appreciation for the multifaceted nature of knowledge and the significance of varied academic contributions. The study highlights the importance of widening the concept of research impact, including qualitative evaluations, and embracing interdisciplinary approaches. It also discusses the impact of university rankings and the incorporation of SDGs in reframing the value of non-STEM disciplines. In addition, the study suggests practical methods for university administrators, such as the creation of customised appraisal forms, customised career trajectories, and equal resource allocation. The study finishes by considering the future role of the arts and humanities in an increasingly automated and technologically driven world, emphasising the relevance of human values and ethical considerations in societal growth. This study adds to the discussion about developing a balanced and human-centred approach to research management, calling for the recognition and support of all academic disciplines in the changing landscape of higher education.
Research Classification using the Malaysian Research and Development Classification System (MRDCS)
Classifying research projects or research publication into research areas is crucial in many statistical analyses including for example in bibliometric analysis. Research publication classification usually takes place at the level of journals, where subject categories based on available databases like the Web of Science or SciVal are some of the popular classification systems. However, journal-level classification systems have limitation especially when classifying multidisciplinary journals. To overcome this limitation, it is suggested that a classification system that can classify research be constructed based on the areas of research proposals and their related publications. Successful grant applications/research projects and their publications were clustered into research areas based on the Malaysian Research and Development Classification System (MRDCS) (6th Edition). A total of 1738 research projects managed by Universiti Malaya’s Research Cluster from year 2015 to 2017 were mapped. The strengths and the limitations of the proposed classification system are also discussed. Results indicate that out of the 20 research categories, Medical and Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Economics, Business and Management, Humanities, and Engineering and Technology emerge as the top five research categories with the highest critical mass value based on the number of projects. Classification mapping also found Engineering and Technology, Medical and Health Sciences, Material Sciences, Social Sciences, and Applied Sciences and Technologies to be the top five research categories that produced the highest number of outputs in terms of publications.
Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Research Management and Governance http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
The Positive Impact of University-Community Engagement Projects: A Case Study in the Context of Universiti Malaya
Collaborative partnership or engagement between university and community are essential and have become a widespread practice adopted by many universities worldwide. While university-community-engagement projects which are undertaken in a variety of ways of multidiscipline are growing rapidly, questions about its impact on communities remain largely ignored. Little empirical evidence is available exploring the impact of such partnerships for either the community partners or the university. This study presents a case study of the Universiti Malaya’s experience of evaluating the impact of such engagements through several funded community projects. These university-community engagement funding are disbursed and managed by UM’s Community Engagement Centre (UMCares). The result chain model was applied to collect data on the input, activities, output, outcomes and impact of the funded projects. Differences in nine impact areas and indicators were also identified. The results show that the funding projects are able to create an impact in different areas of community engagement. However, the development and maintenance of a dedicated database, in combination with periodic, systematic impact assessments is crucial to increase impact in community engagement.
Impact of Social Distancing on Research Activities: An online cross-sectional survey
During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many institutions enforced social distancing measures to limit or restrict access to offices, laboratories, and workplaces, disrupting the standard workflow of research. This survey investigates the impact of social distancing measures in universities and research institutes on research and research training. An online survey was designed for distribution to researchers and students worldwide to researchers in medical physics, engineering, science, clinical, arts and social studies. In addition to demographic questions, we surveyed the impact of social distancing in terms of research output, training activities, and mental health of the researchers and students. One hundred and thirty participants completed the survey, of which 72% of the respondents were from Malaysia, and 58% of the respondents were female. Prior to the pandemic, 59% worked in hospitals and universities. There was a variation in how strict social distancing was practised/enforced in different institutions, with 85% reporting limited or completely no access to laboratories or research facilities. A significant difference was found between genders, with female respondents reporting to be less affected by the social distancing measures. No correlation was found between age and the reported effect of social distancing research activities. The most affected research activities were research progress, presentation of results at conferences, and data collection. The pandemic also affected the respondents' mental health, reporting demotivation, feeling isolated, and losing focus on their work. Measures to alleviate the negative impact of COVID-19 suggested enhancing research and training, including improved communications, making research training more accessible, and adjusting administration, work and research goals.
Trends of Academic Publications: A Case Study of Malaysian Research Universities
The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia granted five universities with Research University (RU) status, which are Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). These RUs are expected to focus on research and innovation and become a model of Malaysian universities for research activities aimed at knowledge advancement. Publications are one of the performance indicators for RUs. Thus, this paper confined its scope to the publications produced from 2016 to 2020 by the five RUs. The study aimed to analyse the patterns related to the number of publications, subject areas, type of publications, international joint publications, and the language of the publications. The findings show that the number of publications increased for UPM, UKM, and USM over five years, while UTM champions four subjects: Engineering, Materials Science, Computer Science, and Environmental Science. Journal articles are the most prominent scholarly output for all RUs. All RUs actively collaborate with international scholars and use English as the primary language for publications.
Enhancing Research Mechanisms and Institutional Processes in Malaysia: A Case Study of Universiti Malaya (UM)
Malaysia’s research and development landscape has grown tremendously over the last decade. The growth of scholarly output in Malaysia has also risen significantly compared to countries such as China, Singapore and Australia. Malaysia has made it a target that research output and quality will increase through an expenditure of 1.3% of the GDP allocated to Research and Development (R&D). Thus far, Malaysia has achieved phenomenal growth within the research sector, with a four-fold increase in the number of citations and has generated approximately RM1.25 billion through 11% yearly growth in the number of patents from Malaysian Universities. This case study aims to provide, firstly, an overview of research governance in Malaysia, and secondly, a discussion of research governance practices at Universiti Malaya (UM). Data is obtained from the 11th Malaysian Plan (2016-2020) and linked to the Malaysian Transformation Program. The Malaysian Education Blueprint for Higher Education (2015-2025) launched in 2015 also outlined a comprehensive transformation for research in higher education programmes. In addition, other published documents on research governance practices by agencies providing research funding were also reviewed. This case study highlights best practices in research management and governance to strengthen and further enhance the current research management and governance in support of the Malaysian government’s initiative towards achieving a high-income nation status.
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Research Management and Governance http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
Fostering Interdisciplinary Research Culture, Challenges and Way Forward: The Universiti Malaya Experience
Interdisciplinary research (IDR) exploring beyond the purview of a single discipline is critical for providing the requisite solutions to real-world issues. Furthermore, the process of translating research that could have a positive impact on and benefit the government, industry and society, typically requires a multipronged approach with inputs and solutions integrated from various disciplines. Therefore, IDR is vital in pushing the different disciplines forward and accelerating scientific discovery in innovative ways. Nonetheless, the move towards encouraging researchers to break away from working in silos to working together has been an extremely challenging task. Doubtlessly, interdisciplinary programmes demand much more involvement and exhaustive effort from researchers per se as they require not only academic scholarship but also soft skills to communicate, network and engage with other researchers from diversified disciplines, various stakeholders and beneficiaries. In addition to that, good leadership and all-rounded teamwork support are required in navigating and ensuring the success of the research programme to deliver its intended outcome and impact. In light of this, this opinion paper discusses some of the challenges confronted in fostering IDR at the Universiti Malaya and suggestions on approaches that could be adopted to garner the interest and move it forward.
How University Research can Create Impact
Universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that research carried out by using public money creates significant impact beyond academia which are categorized as cultural, economic, environmental, social, health and well-being, policy influence and change, legal and technological developments. Research impact is complex, diverse and long term in nature. The linear Results Chain Model suggests that a research project can go through a few phases before it creates impact: 1. Inputs, 2. Activities, 3. Outputs, 4. Outcomes, and 5. Impact. In this long process, researchers have a greater role to play in the early phases. In the later phases, researchers alone cannot make much progress without engaging with appropriate stakeholders. Stakeholders may include industry, policymakers, NGO, etc. depending on the type of the project. Researchers need to deliberately aim at non-academic impact, in addition to their traditional intellectual contributions. Universities, on their part, have to provide a supportive environment for researchers to pursue impact. The presence of effective ecosystems at national and regional levels is a necessary condition for increasing the chances of creating impact out of university research.
Copyright (c) 2020 Journal of Research Management & Governance
Hypothetical Aspect of Crowdfunding as Alternate Finance for University Spinoffs and Quadruple Helix
In this study, we address the finance gaps that threaten the operations of University Spinoffs (USOs), by examining the financing options available to sustain their activities. The study thus discusses crowdfunding as alternate finance to address these financial gaps using the quadruple helix model of innovation. The study combines theoretical perspectives of the quadruple helix model with the practical aspects of USOs raising finance using the crowd. We examine the internal and external financing sources for USOs and explain theoretically, why USOs can rely on crowdfunding as alternate finance. The key concepts of the concept are critically considered, and the study is thus conducted in the form of a review of literature and expression of opinion. Accordingly, the empirical justification of the concept presented is not within the scope of this paper.
The Development of Professionals for Research Management in Malaysia
Research activities in Malaysian universities have increased dramatically since the year 2007. Since then, the role of the research management office has evolved due to the increasing demand internally and externally. Traditionally, academics are seconded to manage research at local universities. In view of the growing complexity and volume of tasks and responsibilities in managing research, the development of the research management profession is critically needed. However, the profession was only the initiative of individual universities and wasn’t formally recognised at the national level. The turning point of this situation happened in 2015, where there was support from the Ministry when a two-phase project related to the enhancement of research management was initiated at the national level. The project studied the strengths and weaknesses of current research management practices in Malaysian public universities and the drafting of strategies and action plans for implementation. One of the recommendations from the Malaysian Research Management & Governance Project (MRMG) project was to develop a network for research managers and administrators in Malaysia so that this group of professionals can improve and learn from their peers via the sharing of best practices and exchange ideas. The first association of the profession was established in 2019 after three hardworking years since the Phase I concluded. The establishment of the association indicated that the acceptability of the profession into the academic communities and universities.
Institutional Innovations for Management and Commercialisation of Fishery Technologies in India - A Case Study
India is a country with unique market dynamics and high entrepreneurial spirit. During recent years, the country’s industry sector is dominated by innovation led business enterprises that are found to achieve high profits within a short span of time. This paradigm shift is mainly influenced by the significant role played by technology-based business incubation support systems and expert mentorship programmes. It is observed that start-up companies emerging from these incubators are becoming machines of rapid and tremendous growth. In support of this growing trend and with the aim of laying the foundation for innovation-based businesses and knowledge-driven economy in agricultural sector, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – an apex public research organization in India, established a network of Agri-business incubation (ABI) Centres linking its R&D Institutes across the country. Through this initiative ICAR brought into place novel policies and programmes, to maximize technology commercialization, establish public private partnerships and handhold entrepreneurs. This paper portrait the activities of such an ABI Centre attached to ICAR - Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, and presents an overview of the new systems of business incubation and support services to entrepreneurs. The clients registered at the ABI Centre are given necessary guidance to choose a suitable technology with the help of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and given an opportunity to commence business operations using the semi-commercial pilot plant facilities attached to the institute. A case study of a client who adopted the ICAR-CIFT technology for ‘Hybrid Solar Dryer’ is also included in this paper.
Escaping the Middle Innovation Trap: Case Studies of Two Successful Spin-off Companies from a Malaysian Research University
The concept of the "middle innovation trap" has been proposed as a phenomenon of a “failed transformation from implementation based to concept design based capabilityâ€ (Lee et al., 2019). It has trapped nations from evolving from middle income to high-income status. Over the past two decades, many countries have been caught in the middle-income traps. The same phenomenon can possibly be observed in institutions of higher learning, especially government-funded institutions that are a microcosm of the country as their development and wellbeing are intricately linked to the country's finances. Institutions are often well funded with significant capital expenditure during their inception, enabling them to possess the latest technologies with good teaching and research capabilities which in turn could stagnant and degrade if the government switches to fund other inception projects. Hence, these institutions are left to fend on their own, creating a technological and innovation trap that is insurmountable without repeated investment effort to bridge the gap created by rapidly advancing technologies or narrowing of the long tail of scientific research. The presence of a “middle innovationâ€ trap in a university may hinder the successful commercialisation of its innovation. In this study, two cases from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) are described; robotics and skin-care innovation that has been successfully commercialised, hence “escapedâ€ the middle innovation trap. In both cases, the commercialised innovation was very dependent on the inventors. These are self-driven extraordinary individuals who developed extensive industrial insights acquired by additional training not accessible to their peers. Their products are not novel and utilise existing technologies that are shaped into commercially available products or services. Although UTM technology transfer office is known for its support and flexibility towards academics pursuing commercialisation, the role of the extraordinary individuals who possess exceptional drive is the key factor in escaping the trap. In conclusion, escaping from the middle innovation trap would only be successful by providing significant and continuous support to the correct type of academic staff. Therefore, the selection of the correct people is more important than the product being offered.
Copyright (c) 2019 Journal of Research Management & Governance
The Significance of Professional, Personal and Business Networks to Academic Entrepreneurs
The degree of informational support academic scientists acquired from social network is associated with greater perceived feasibility that may influence their involvement in the research commercialization. Social capital has been commonly assessed by measuring the number of direct contacts from business and industry networks as well as the frequency of establishing new contacts. These approaches, however, have not adequately explained how social capital is beneficial to their entrepreneurial endeavor. This paper attempts to validate social capital as a formative construct using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to explore the relative importance of personal, professional and business networks to academic entrepreneurs in their technology transfer pursuit. A sample of 115 academic entrepreneurs of a Malaysia public research university was surveyed. The analyses of formative measurement model to evaluate construct validity, collinearity and significance of indicators revealed that scientists’ personal network is the most important social resource that facilitate and encourage them in the technology transfer pursuit, followed with business partners and potential investors. Although scientists have a large professional network through their attendance to conference, workshops and seminars, however, these platforms are often themed to focus more on sharing scientific knowledge rather than on academic entrepreneurship.
The African Academy of Sciences Research Management Programme in Africa
The Research Management Programme in Africa (ReMPro Africa) is an initiative of The African Academy of Sciences (The AAS) which aims to fill critical gaps in the African research ecosystem to support a vibrant research culture and leadership at universities and research institutions. The AAS recognizes that the business of doing research is all-encompassing and the lack of specialist research management profesionals threatens the integrity and quality of research coming out of African institutions. ReMPro Africa aims to transform research management at the institutional level by addressing the key interconnected strands of leadership, sustainability, standards and individual capacity development.
Open Science is about sharing knowledge where research data and other research processes are freely available, under terms that enable reuse, redistribution and reproduction of the research and its underlying data and methods. The availability of these data publicly should promote the translation of research output into innovation and new technologies. In addition, making research data and knowledge publicly available to others would help to build trust on the research findings and could support public policies and further investments.
Philanthropic Fund Raising for Higher Education
With the recent trend towards mass higher education, funding for higher education has become an important issue around the globe. Many governments do not seem to be able to afford it. Economic crisis from time to time makes the situation even worse. Fundraising by universities from alternative sources is increasingly being discussed. This article intends to give an introduction to philanthropic fundraising for higher education and research. Early history of fundraising for higher education and fundraising scenarios in the US, UK and EU are presented. Different models of university fundraising is outlined. Some thoughts on the potential of university fundraising in the Malaysian context are presented towards the end.
Copyright (c) 2018 Journal of Research Management & Governance http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
Realizing Research Impact and the Experience of a Malaysian University
This paper touches on a range of aspects that affect the realization of research impact. Malaysia has invested significantly in research and we have world class researchers who have proven themselves with high impact publications. However, there is still a lack of clear connection when it comes to relating research output to resources. This paper recommends proper initial research planning involving multi-sectorial stakeholders, and identification of impact and impact pathways in conceptualizing research projects. Strong institutional support in the form of professional research managers to assist researchers in research processes is important to ensure that the research activities are run smoothly and monitored well. . Initiatives to enhance researchers networking, mobility and competency through relevant training programmes will encourage our academics to expand their horizon and generate new ideas for research. Considering the amount of investment that has been made and the conducive environment that we have at universities, it may seem that we are not fully capturing or extracting all the results and products of our research endeavour. It is thus highly desired that Malaysia should have sound database and data management system to capture all the work that has been done and make the information accessible to research managers as well as researchers to do strategic analyses.
Initializing multi-stakeholder engagement in the context of Marine Protected Area management and capacity-building programmes: A Tun Mustapha Park case study
As global trends in Marine Protected Area (MPA) management shift towards participatory co-governance, the importance of effective stakeholder engagement in its implementation stages warrant greater emphasis. This case study highlights key lessons learned from the employment of a mixture of focus group discussions (FGDs), interviews and reconnaissance surveys in a preliminary study-site visit to Tun Mustapha Park (TMP), Sabah, Malaysia, where our research team is undertaking a 4-year research and capacity-building project. We found that trust building, understanding the local culture and politics, and recognition of complex stakeholder dynamics were key elements to successful engagement, while identifying key decision-makers for follow-ups were crucial for on-going engagement. This paper presents insights into the types of information collected by our team, which would be useful among conservation practitioners who will be conducting similar engagement work in the future.
Water Research Productivity, Trends and Collaborations in Malaysia between 1964 to 2012
The research in water cycle management is an important endeavour in any nation’s environmental management practices. Bibliometric examination the breadth and scope of research is one way to study past research focus. This will allow establishment of prior research trends, output and performance in order to reorient future resources, improve research collaborations and research return of investment. In this study, publications that are available on online from Web of Science and SCOPUS were examined using bibliometric analysis to visualize past research focus, institutional and author collaborations, clusters of peer research networks, lead institutions associated with the water cycle management in Malaysia from 1964 to 2012. Results showed that 80% of publications were indexed in Scopus with 5277 unique authors from 814 institutions. Significant ‘alpha researcher’ phenomenon was detected where strong principal investigators do not collaborate with each other, often only linked with ‘bridging’ individual that adopt a ‘middle man’ strategy, connecting two ‘alpha researchers’ together. Although UM is historically the initiator of many water research since 1972, UPM, USM and UKM are the current research leaders. Research universities UPM, USM, UKM and UTM possess good internal collaboration while UM only interact with external collaborators, possibly due to the highly competitive nature among themselves. Analysis of research topics showed that water pollution has been a perennial research interest since the 1990s while the geological focus has been on the river and coastal areas with studies on lake and islands receiving the least attention. Future awarding of research resources should take into account these historical insights in order to improve research allocations and institutional collaborations.