Guidelines for Research Publication Award

September 24, 2012

(Approved by the Administrative council in its meeting on 24 August 2012)
(Approved by the DOR through Board Resolution No. 1224, s. 2012)

I. Purpose

MMSU has developed a niche in R&D endeavor not only in Region I but also nationwide through the various awards and recognitions received by the various research projects conducted by its faculty and full-time researchers. Amongst these are: CHED’s Best HEI Research Program both at the regional and national levels, PCAARRD’s Best Development Paper Award, and DA-BAR AFMA Research Paper Awards. It is lamentable to note, however, that only a few of the conducted researches and/or research outputs including the award-winning ones had been published in refereed journals and whole book or chapter of a book published by internationally recognized publishers. Even the MMSU S&T Journal cannot be published semi-annually as planned because bulk of the research reports just ended up being presented in research reviews, symposia and/or conferences conducted by scientific and professional organizations and societies.

The purpose of this Research Publication Award (RPA) is to promote research productivity in MMSU as well as improve the quality and visibility of its publications. It is likewise an initiative to encourage faculty and full-time researchers to contribute to the body of knowledge in their respective field/discipline by publishing in nationally and internationally respected journals and as whole book or chapter(s) of book published by reputable international publishers or institutions. Furthermore, it aims to give proper recognition to all MMSU researchers and their respective units for research that resulted in a refereed journal or book publication. It is hoped that this will become an effective mechanism for increasing the number of peer-reviewed publications and citations of MMSU researches, one of the indicators/criteria in SUC leveling, normative financing and program accreditation/evaluation. The inclusion of the MMSU S&T journal, also a peer-reviewed journal, in the scope of RPA is to fast track MMSU’s effort of having the journal accredited by CHED. Once accredited, faculty publications can be credited as fulfillment of the basic requirement of research publication for accreditation as professors of faculty who already met the required NBC points but have not authored/co-authored a refereed journal publication.

II. Eligibility

Regular faculty and full-time researchers in active service, clinical preceptors and emeritus professors as well as project researchers and thesis students who work on MMSU projects, and indicated MMSU as their affiliation in the publication are eligible for the award. (Faculty on sabbatical, study leave, training and secondment to other agencies are also eligible for the award provided the output is not a requirement of degree/training program and/or sponsoring agency.
Authors eligible for the award may receive it as often as they publish in the covered publication types. However, an article shall be eligible for RPA only once but should the same article be published in a higher category journal/book, authors are eligible for the difference in the RPA.

III. Scope of Award

Publication Type

RPA (Ph P)

Thomson Reuters-listed (formerly ISI), Citation indexed

50,000

Other Refereed Journals

30,000

Book or chapter of a book published by reputable international
publishers (e.g. CAB International)

Whole book – 50,000
Chapter – 30,000 per article

Book or chapter of a book published by nationally and internationally
recognized research institutions (e.g. SEARCA, IRRI, ICRISAT)

Whole book – 15,000
Chapter – 7,500 per article

MMSU S&T Journal

5,000

  1. The RPA covers the following types of research publications and the corresponding award:

  2. The article must be a solid piece/output of research and with MMSU faculty/full-time researchers as the main author. Articles such as tribute/testimonial to a known figure, book review, letter to the editor, editorial commentary shall not qualify. An RPA committee shall evaluate all articles as to their eligibility.
  3. The author(s) must clearly be identified as faculty or full-time researcher of MMSU. If the article was produced as a result of a joint project with foreign researchers/scholars, proper acknowledgement must be given to the institution that accommodated the faculty or supported the project. The MMSU address/affiliation of the author(s) must nonetheless be indicated in the publication (either in a footnote or as a byline).
  4. The article must fall within the discipline or related field of the author. An article shall not be entertained if authored by faculty or full-time researcher outside the article’s field unless there is sufficient proof of prior recognition of the author as a serious practitioner in the article’s field as determined by the RPA committee upon consultation with known figures in the article’s field. However, if the article is within the discipline or related field of at least one of the MMSU affiliated authors, said article shall still qualify but the RPA pro-rated share of the non-qualifying author(s) shall not be released.

IV. Value of Award and Application Process

A. Value of Award

  1. Sole authors that meet the requirements set in these guidelines shall receive the RPA per publication.
  2. In the case of co-authorship, the award shall be divided according to the number of authors. The main author shall receive 10% higher than the others.
  3. Only MMSU authors eligible for the award shall receive it, provided the article/book is published while they are on active service or before their retirement or resignation from the University. Non-MMSU co-authors’ pro-rated share of the RPA shall not be released.
  4. RPA shall be tax-free.

B. RPA application process

  1. The guidelines and forms for RPA application will be developed and made available at the OVPRE website.
  2. All RPA applications with the required supporting documents shall be submitted to the OVPRE. Supporting documents include a copy of the published article and evidence of the author’s affiliation with MMSU. Copy of the application and supporting documents will be forwarded by the VPRE to the evaluation committee.
  3. Decision of the evaluation committee is non-appealable and shall be forwarded to the University President for final approval.
  4. Once approved, the OVPRE shall process the voucher for the award and inform the faculty/full-time researchers of the award.
  5. The status of the RPA application and award will be tracked in the OVPRE website.

V. Public dissemination of RPA publications

  1. The abstracts of all RPA publications shall be posted in the OVPRE website.
  2. The authors shall be required to submit a popular article about the publication which they prepare by themselves or the Newsletter’s correspondent in the respective units. The popular article will be featured in the MMSU Newsletter and in the OVPRE website and used as part of MMSU’s accomplishments for public dissemination.

VI. Withdrawal of RPA

Should a publication for which a faculty or full-time researcher was awarded later be withdrawn or retracted by the publisher owing to misrepresentation of data or authorship, plagiarism or some unethical act, the author(s) shall return the full amount of the released award, without prejudice to the application of other university sanctions.

VII. Budget

The University shall provide an annual budgetary allocation for the purpose.

VIII. Effectivity

The proposed RPA guideline shall take effect upon approval of the Board of Regents.

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