New Direction for Scientific Publications

The Constitutional Court recently announced an important decision regarding its review of Law No. 14/2005 on teachers and lecturers.

Part of the ruling reads as follows: "If the requirement that a scholarly article be published in an reputable international journal to attain a professorship is maintained, the article does not need to be reviewed by the university and/or the ministry’s reviewers, as long as the reputable international journal is among those on the ministry’s regularly updated list.”

This Constitutional Court ruling is an important step for scientific developments in Indonesia.

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How to determine whether a journal is an reputable and credible international journal (JIB), especially in the social sciences, in the face of the proliferation of “predatory” international journals? Is it enough to rely on the existing operational guidelines of the higher education directorate general? How does the choice of a JIB weigh on the quality of professors and the future of the social sciences?

‘Mertonian dictum’

Social scientist Robert Merton viewed the architecture of science as a reference for assessing the development of science. His view gave birth to scientometrics, a science that studies the quality and quantity of science in a country. The following is Merton’s statement, widely known as the “Mertonian dictum” in the scientific world: “The institutional goal of science is the extension of certified knowledge.” (Achwan et al, 2022).

These journals are used as a reference for academics in scientific fields in Southeast Asia, Asia, and the world.

This dictum calls for the need to extend new research findings through their publication in credible international journals. These journals are used as a reference for academics in scientific fields in Southeast Asia, Asia, and the world.

The patron of credible journals is usually a reputable university or scientific association, and members on the editorial board have good track records of a series of publications in prestigious journals. Every article published always undergoes rigorous review by experts in the relevant scientific field.

In developed countries, the requirements vary for a lecturer to become a professor. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California, Berkeley in the United States, professorship candidates must meet two requirements: the potential professor’s influence in scientific associations and the global impact of the books they author (Thoenig and Paradeise, 2014).

In Germany, gender counts in terms of awarding professorships, in addition to meritocracy (as proven by their articles referenced in widely recognized journals) and academic networks. The country has adopted an affirmative policy that gives women 1.5 times a greater chance at attaining a professorship than men.

In Singapore, meritocracy is the only existing requirement. In Indonesia, one article published in a JIB is enough, and being published in a reference journal is not a necessary condition for attaining a professorship.

Scientific ecosystem

Developing scientific quality necessitates the prolific emergence of scientific experts with verified publication track records in every branch of the social sciences. Experts are an integral component in the scientific ecosystem. Other components are institutions that impart and develop science, reliable researchers and science media.

These two qualities are intercorrelated to lead to the emergence of a solid academic ecosystem for the social sciences.

In many countries, scientific experts, researchers and academics as well as scientific journals fall under the auspices of scientific associations. Scientific experts play an important role in developing the scientific ecosystem because they have the authority to assess the quality of scientific papers for shed and the quality of the teaching outputs of the social sciences in universities. These two qualities are intercorrelated to lead to the emergence of a solid academic ecosystem for the social sciences.

Academic expertise maintains the social sciences ecosystem by extending and refining scientific theories and methodologies through publishing research results. The lecture hall no longer functions simply as a medium for transferring knowledge from the West, but as a forum for discussing the production of the scientific knowledge that lecturers have published in reference journals.

Therefore, modifying Western knowledge in line with the Indonesian context should be the new norm for university teaching. In this regard, Tan Malaka’s statement several decades ago is very relevant. While encouraging us to learn from the West, he warned against imitating the West in order to retain our identity as “intelligent scholars from the East”. This modified social sciences ecosystem will deliver significant contributions in formulating public and social policies.

Professor

The Constitutional Court ruling is an important step to paving the way towards a new direction in the social sciences. The higher education directorate general has so far provided very detailed requirements that lecturers must meet in pursuing a professorship. One of these is that a scholarly paper published in a JIB should obtain a certain score in the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR). This scientific influence ranking uses big data from Scopus, a nonacademic registry of scientific journals that meet the required criteria.

However, the Scopus assessment appears to be more technical than substantial when registering journals. As a result, many scientific journals of doubtful quality are still indexed in Scopus and their number continues to increase, even though the institution has removed a journal from its database.

These dubious journals often have high SJR scores, are published by lesser-known publishers and are managed by less reputable universities or scientific associations with track records that are difficult to trace. The rapid growth of this type of journal makes it difficult for reviewers to decide whether a JIB can be used to fulfill the condition for awarding a professorship.

Of course, this method cannot be applied anymore, considering that every scientific discipline has its own knowledge structure, journals, and state-of-the-art developments.

Another issue is the competence of assessors. So far, an assessor who reviews a JIB article comes from a different scientific discipline than the prospective professor. A sociologist, for instance, may review an article on political science and criminology that has been submitted for a professorship application. Of course, this method cannot be applied anymore, considering that every scientific discipline has its own knowledge structure, journals, and state-of-the-art developments.

In line with the emergence of a number of social scientists at state universities who have published a scholarly paper in a reference JIB (Achwan et al, 2020), now is the time for them to step forward as

science leaders. Their task, together the higher education directorate general, is to compile a list of reference JIBs that are recognized in applying for a professorship.

Together with colleagues from the same scientific faculty, they should build a scientific critical mass comprising young talented academics. Together with higher education authorities and universities, they should strengthen scientific associations to improve the quality of social sciences. All of these are important in realizing a strong academic ecosystem of the social and public sciences.

DOK. ROCHMAN ACHWAN

Rochman Achwan

Rochman Achwan, Sociologist at the School of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP), University of Indonesia

(This article was translated by Musthofid)