International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue VII, July 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Dr. Mary A. Mosha
Department of Education, Kampala International University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Abstract: The study was conducted at Kampala International University in Tanzania (KIUT) to establish challenges facing academic staff in doing research and publishing their outputs in scholarly journals. The study had a sample of 123 staffs that were selected through purposive sampling technique. The sample included senior and junior academic staffs. Data were collected through in-depth interview and documentary review and analysed using descriptive and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that few academic staffs were publishing despite the existing of university local Journal of Social Sciences and Business Studies. The staffs were faced with a number of challenges such as low motivation, lack of research funds, and incentives, teaching load and university various responsibilities. In addition to that, junior staffs lack mentorship, awareness of accredited journals to publish and knowledge on how to publish papers. Firstly, the study recommends the staff to apply for research funds and not to depend only to the Directorate of Postgraduate Studies and Research to seek funds for them. Secondly, the university should establish a mechanism to support its staffs rather than depending on research funds from funders that are hard to get. Thirdly, the fact that seminars and workshops are conducted at the university; academic staffs are required to attend in order to gain knowledge and skills on how to publish their research.
Key Words: Academic publications, research, higher learning institutions, growth and development.
I. INTRODUCTION
Scientific research productivity has been linked to the intellectual wealth and economic progress of countries (Jaffe et al, 2020). Research output can be reflected in the results of scientific studies, which are disseminated through academic publications. The most commonly used indicator to measure research productivity is the publication of articles in indexed databases, which is a proof of excellence for universities (Albers, 2015).
The study of research output started with Lotka (1926) who proposed the inverse-square law with regard to unequal distribution of research productivity. In the last decades, research productivity has been a topic of interest for several scholars, who have focused on the analysis and distribution of the number of publications, and the factors that directly or