NUC to train varsity lecturers on academic publication

CONCERNED by the dearth of cutting-edge research and publication of quality journals in Nigerian universities, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has concluded plans to carry out nationwide training of junior and middle-career lecturers on academic publishing.

Director of Research, Innovation and Information Technology in the commission, Dr Suleiman Ramon-Yusuf, who made this known in Abuja, said the training was part of efforts by the commission to promote research and global visibility of academic staff in Nigerian universities.

Suleiman urged vice chancellors of both public and private universities to support as many junior, middle-level as well as experienced academics as possible to benefit from the free training, which is slated for December 11 to 15.

He said the training was aimed at equipping academic staff in universities with the requisite knowledge, skills and nuances of academic publishing required to write good scholarly academic articles for publication.

He said this would not only enhance the career development of young academics, but would ultimately position the country’s university system to attain global relevance in terms of the quality and quantum of world-class academic articles published by Nigerian academics.

This, he added, would also help in improving the ranking of Nigerian universities.

The NUC official disclosed that the workshop, which is jointly organised by the NUC in collaboration with Enago, a United Kingdom-based organisation, would cover two topics that are of importance to the Nigerian universities’ academic clime; namely, ‘Academic Publishing’ and ‘Identifying a Target Journal for Publication.

“The workshops will elucidate the criteria for selecting appropriate journals for publication with emphasis on impact factor, citation index, peer review, availability as an open access journal, understanding author’s right, amoung others.

“The facilitating partner for the workshop, Enago Academy, is a United Kingdom-based knowledge platform offering up-to-date resources on scholarly publishing for researchers, authors, publishers and academic societies.

“Enago Academy provides assistance to researchers and authors, help journals and publishers to produce quality articles and collaborate with universities and academic institutions by conducting author workshops for first-time authors and researchers; improve the quality of publications from universities,” he said.