New Definitions in Research and Academia
Professor Datuk Dr. A Rahman A Jamal
GHOST WRITER: When you outsource the process of writing papers and publishing to someone else (the ghost writer) who has good writing or editing skills or who just know how to get a publication into low impact journals. A smart move indeed but this certainly will not nurture the writing skills of our young lecturers especially when the seniors themselves (who are so accustomed of using the ghost writer) do not know how to write or even edit manuscripts. The ghost writer gets his/her name in every paper but not as main or corresponding author and can even get a faster promotion than others.
FEDEX RESEARCH: When you send samples or data to a research consortium overseas and get an authorship in a high impact factor journal. Many a time we glorify this kind researcher although he/she is not even involved in the research design or the manuscript. Many of those who participate in multi-centre clinical trials are also benefitting a lot from this. By the true convention, sending data and samples does not entitle one to authorship.
PILLION RIDER: Someone who has many publications but in most if not all of the papers he/she is the middle author with very few or none of which has his/her name as the main or corresponding author. The better Malay word is ‘menenggek’ or to ride upon someone. A quick way to promotion indeed, but who are you trying to kid anyway?
HIGH LEVEL TECHNICIAN: A PhD graduate who is an expert in performing all the techniques described in his/her thesis but cannot answer even a basic question on the science behind the technology or technique. Many post-graduate students feel so proud when they are able to handle state-of-the-art platforms like next generation sequencing or mass spectrometry, but still lack the basic knowledge in molecular genetics or protein chemistry.
5-READER PHD: A PhD graduate who has graduated but does not have even one research publication from the thesis. The thesis would have been read by the main supervisor, the co-supervisor, the two internal examiners and the external examiner. At the last convocation in ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹, we had 520 PhD graduates receiving their scrolls. With the requirement that each PhD must publish 2 indexed journals before they graduate, surely we must have 1040 indexed publications from these students alone.
SOCIAL MoU: This is the memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at establishing research collaboration between two institutions and is signed with all the pomp and grace, but remains as a document in a file in someone’s office. Even many audit panels look for the MoUs as evidence for collaboration rather than accepting the non-MoU evidence of real research collaboration. This MoU-centric approach is not present in the top universities overseas but has somehow become so fashionable locally.
THE BUYER: Those who pay to a journal for the rights to publish a supplementary issue and then have 20 papers published in the issue from his/her group of researchers. Some have even received cash reward for getting so many papers so fast. This is a phenomenon we get when we are chasing quantity rather than quality. I have been in a panel for a promotion exercise where the applicant had almost 80% publications in one supplementary issue of a journal. ¼¯ÃÀÂ鶹 will now only count publications in a supplementary issue as one publication even if someone has 20 papers in the issue. A wise decision indeed.
PROFESSOR KANGKONG: This is a sensitive term to use and refer to. Kangkong is the Malay term for a type of vegetable. It used to be considered a ‘very cheap’ vegetable. This is a term used for a professor who gets promoted but whose credentials are far from that you expect of a professor.
FEEL-GOOD PATENT: This is the kind of patent which sits in a document or in the technology transfer office and which requires annual payment for maintenance but has no potential at all to be commercialized. Many universities have hundreds of patents like this and are so proud of the numbers. Remember, innovation is an invention which brings in value. Performing good due diligence on patent applications will save the university lots of money.
ARMCHAIR RESEARCHER: This is a dangerous breed as they are sometimes found in important research committees and evaluation panels. They have left research for a long time and are not even keeping up with the knowledge and advances in the relevant field. They use whatever little old knowledge they have and also their authority to comment on research proposals and presentations.
ONE-LINER ASSESSOR: This is something which the heads of the funding agencies should really address. These are individuals who reject research proposals with a one-liner (this research has been done before) or a phrase (not fundamental enough). Those who submitted the proposals have spent a lot of effort and would want detail comments and rebuttal so that the proposal can be improved.