Steep Road to Being Published in International Journals
Lecturers who want to be promoted to a professorship need to work hard. Meeting such requirements is not easy for some academics. If they take the right path, they must spend time and money.
By
INSAN ALFAJRI/DHANANG DAVID ARITONANG/IRENE SARWINDANINGRUM/ANDY RIZA HIDAYAT
·6 minutes read
ALBERDI DITTO PERMADI
The Rectorate Building of the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teaching Sciences, State Islamic University of North Sumatra Medan on January 19, 2023.
Lecturers who want to be promoted to a professorship need to work hard. In addition to accumulating a minimum of 850 credits, they must also publish in reputable international journals scientific articles on which they are the lead author, meaning that they must fill a dominant role while conducting the research.
Meeting such requirements is not easy for some academics. If they take the right path, they must spend time and money. Academics that have not fulfilled the publication standard in reputable international journals or the Scopus index will meet with difficulty.
On hearing the word “Scopus”, Mardianto, dean of the Tarbiyah and Teacher Training School at the State Islamic University of North Sumatra, took a deep breath. He remembered an incident in December 2022 when the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry rejected the scientific articles he had submitted for the requirement to become a professor. “Scopus, wow,” he said while shaking his head in his office in Medan on Thursday afternoon (19/1/2023).
Mardianto had to wait half a year for the results of his professorship application.
When he found out that his articles did not meet the requirements, he could only throw in the towel. He didn't know much about journals. “My scientific articles are not indexed. My credits are actually sufficient,” said the head lecturer.
A search on Google Scholar shows that Mardianto had been published three times in English-language journals in 2022. He is the main author on two articles: “Poster Comment Strategy In Increasing Students' Learning Motivation During Covid-19 (Case Study at Madrasah Tsanawiyah)” was published in the Journal of Positive School Psychology, and “An Analysis of the Moral Crisis of Children towards Parents, Teachers, and the Community in the 21st Century” was published in Basicedu. However, the name of this journal is not indexed by Scopus.
He is an expert in English, while I am an expert in learning strategies. Later, on the research, we will produce an article to meet the special requirements to become prospective professors.
Faced with that fact, he still did not give up. Now he is learning from a younger lecturer who is knowledgeable about international journals. Mardianto plans to carry out a research with the lecturer.
“He is an expert in English, while I am an expert in learning strategies. Later, on the research, we will produce an article to meet the special requirements to become prospective professors,” he added.
As his age increases, his opportunity to become a professor is growing narrower. This December, he will turn 56. He has around nine more years left before he reaches retirement age.
Long process
As a wise man once said, the result do not betray the process. As long as you are patient and painstaking in writing articles, publishing in a Scopus indexed journal can be achieved.
Erond Damanik, an anthropology lecturer at Medan State University, published three scientific articles as the lead author in Scopus indexed journals last year. One of his articles, titled “Alignment: Conflict Resolution through Sulang-Silima among Pakpaknese, Indonesia”, was published in the Asian Journal of Social Science.
Before the article was published in the journal ranked Scopus Q2, he had to wait two years and eight months. “To reach a Scopus [indexed] journal properly, we must have a history of authorship. It will raise a question mark if a lecturer is suddenly published in a Scopus journal,” he said.
A history of authorship begins by publishing articles in the lowest tier, namely national journals that are not indexed on Sinta, the national journal index portal. After that, it moves to the next level: a Sinta indexed national journal ranked between Sinta 6 and Sinta 1.
INSAN ALFAJRI
In its website, the Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal which is managed by MR claims to be a Sinta 3 indexed journal. In fact, the accreditation of this journal has been revoked since May 27, 2022. Consequently, scientific articles published since 2022 until now are no longer accredited or indexed by Sinta .
When he writes in national journals, Erond does not immediately jump to try and publish in a Scopus Q1 international journal, the most prestigious ranking. He starts with a Scopus Q4 journal. The process of penetrating the curation of this reputable journal is “bloody”: The journal’s editors have rejected 21 articles since 2019.
Now, Erond’s patience is paying off. He has been entrusted to be a reviewer for two international journals, one of which is the SAGE Open journal, ranked Scopus Q1. In addition, he has also been entrusted to be an assessor at the university where he works.
Syamsul Rizal, a professor at Syiah Kuala University in Aceh who is also on the education and culture ministry’s team that assesses the academic positions of lecturers, is of the opinion that there are two paths to becoming a professor: a straight path and a crooked path. The straight path is taken by academics who are honest about their abilities. If you are unable to research something, you have to admit that you are incapable of doing it.
“But there are also people who can't afford it, and yet do everything they can to fulfill the requirements to become a professor,” he said. Their colleagues on campus already know about the capabilities of lecturers who have been promoted to a professorship. However, there seems to be reluctance among academics in talking about the capabilities of their peers.
According to Krismadinata, who heads the Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM) at Padang State University in West Sumatra, academics must prioritize scientific ethics when doing research, especially if the research is intended for applying to a professorship.
An academic must be confident and able to account for his expertise. This is shown by not violating academic integrity when conducting research.
However, the current trend, he said, involved less academic enthusiasm in higher education. Scholarly dialogue did not develop because the academic community was busy chasing credits, not the value of every academic activity. “In this aspect, our education actually failed,” he said.
In this aspect, our education actually failed,
This confusion was experienced by PI, a lecturer at a private university in Yogyakarta. As a lecturer with the rank of lector (senior lecturer), he is required to publish every semester. If not, he risks forfeiting the benefits.
Meanwhile, if an academic publishes an article for free in a journal, the waiting list can be very long.
On the other hand, PI also doesn't want to pay to publish his research articles in a journal.
“Because I also manage a journal, paying to publish [an article] in a journal doesn't make me feel comfortable. It's an academic paper, how come you have to pay to publish it?” he said.
