The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) has charted a new course in the country’s higher education history by launching the first-of-its-kind academic journal, Advances in Science & Arts – intended to provide high-level infrastructure quality, edited and open access for scholarly articles and other research and development products.
At the launch, Director of Research, Postgraduate Studies and Outreach Dr Alfred Maluwa said the journal Advances in Science and Arts was created in response to the vision, mission and goals strategies of the MUST.
MUST’s vision is to be a world-class center for science and technology education, research and entrepreneurship and the journal Advances in Science and Arts complements the vision of the Research and Outreach Branch, ” which is to become a world-class center of excellence in research and outreach”.
Strategies to achieve this vision include conducting high quality research by faculty and students; translating research findings into evidence-based policies and translating research findings into evidence-based curricula.
The Journal also aims to provide a platform for networking and sharing research results with the global scientific community and to increase the visibility of MUST, nationally, regionally and globally through an electronic journal infrastructure. .
The journal is designed to publish in volumes, issues and sections — one volume per year with 2 issues, in July and December.
Sections will depend on disciplines such as science, technology, engineering, math, arts, humanities, and others.
It is open access for staff and their students and postgraduates, free and available to anyone worldwide, only high quality manuscripts will be published.
The journal — designed in-house — is the property of MUST and is exclusively open access and without transfer of copyright.
Maluwa said he came up with this initiative for MUST to achieve world-class status in the advancement of science and the arts and is designed to enrich the CVs of contributors in the dissemination of knowledge.
Among the high-level dignitaries who graced the launch were Dr. Joseph Nagoli of the National Panoramic Commission – who expressed his appreciation of the Journal, saying that is what is being considered in the MW2063 program for the advancement academic, scientific and artistic research for the development of this country.
The guest of honor was Dr Joshua Valeta, Director of Tertiary Education at the Ministry of Education, who also said the journal was a good fit with Malawi’s development aspirations as espoused through Malawi 2063 .
“Research, which the journal seeks to promote through publications, is a way to generate new knowledge that will inform our decisions and drive innovation as we implement and realize MW2063.
He applauded MUST for its dynamism and innovation in developing the standard international journal, saying that in just a few years of its existence, it has charted a new course for the social and economic development of the country through science and technology.
He urged other universities to emulate this example set by MUST, saying higher education in Malawi has over the years focused on teaching and learning with less research.
“So, as the Ministry of Education, we are very happy to see that MUST is not just providing teaching and learning,” he said. “The University is aware that the mandate of a university is threefold, to provide teaching and learning, to conduct research and to carry out outreach activities. The latter is primarily a product of research.
“It is worrying that out of the three, most universities have been focused on teaching and learning for years. If you ask them, the argument has been the lack of resources to conduct research.
“While I don’t want to dismiss this argument, let me say that these universities may not have been aggressive enough to explore research funding opportunities.
“Actually, for those who are serious and have built a profile in research, there are many grants. All we need is a long-term commitment that will help us build a positive research reputation.
He pointed out that the establishment of a journal means that MUST is opening the invitation to an “academic publishing spree to all scholars from public and private universities in addition to research centers in Malawi and beyond.”
Citing the National Education Sector Investment Plan (NESIP) – under the challenges facing the higher education sector – he said that universities lack relevant and quality research programs that contribute to the socio-economic development of the country, saying that there are not many research programs. to engage learners.
He also pointed out that the availability of quality data remains a challenge and that by creating the journal Advances in Science and Arts, “MUST is in many ways addressing some of the critical challenges currently facing the sector.”
Besides resources, another motivating factor for academic researchers is a publishing platform and hopefully with the journal we will see more faculty members, and possibly also students, conducting research. research and publish.
“This will improve the quality and relevance of our research, which in turn will inform development initiatives. With more research, the country will create a lot of quality data for reference and other statistical uses.
“With publications to their name, our professors will have bragging rights and a place on the table of true scholars. We all know that our industry is so “unfair” that despite its genius or articulation of issues in its field, they are never recognized as an authority until they have a few publications to their name.
“Most of the Global Ranking Index also places a lot of emphasis on faculty publications and their online presence,” adding that through the journal, MUST will add another dimension to its brand identity.
He became aware of the existence of other academic and research journals in Malawi – the Malawi Journal of Science and Technology; the Malawi Medical Journal and the Malawi Journal of Humanities.
“Interestingly, all older journals focus on specific research areas and perform well in their respective fields. This means that the Journal of MUST is not only established for its own good. He has a specific gap he wants to fill.
“I encourage the University to stay on course and maintain the identity of its Journal. On closer inspection, advances in science and the arts provide a platform for disseminating research findings in a broader multidisciplinary approach.
He called on all stakeholders and partners to support MUST to make the journal a success in the areas of capacity building for the editorial team, finance to offset some of the costs and many other ways and for scholars to submit their research papers.
“I am also satisfied with the security controls put in place to promote quality and stop plagiarism. Submitting manuscripts online will ensure that manuscripts are checked against these academic misdeeds before any editorial review.
“Using an online submission and tracking portal also allows authors to know what is happening with their submission throughout the review process, in real time.
The system also helps editors track their progress and that of reviewers for timely decisions on submissions. It also provides an excellent periodic monitoring and evaluation tool which will be an essential tool for placing the journal in the best indexing databases soon. It is most encouraging.
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