To achieve the objective of sustainable development through a silent revolution the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) had implemented a knowledge-based economic growth model. Several attractive targets, noble causes and desirable objectives were determined to achieve the goals of economic, social and technological advancement in higher education. Numerous policy measures and incentives were taken to achieve the desirable goals during the last seven years.
Transformation of UGC into HEC, upgrading of university faculty in higher pay scales, huge spending on the frequent foreign visits by the university faculty, attractive salaries under the tenure track system, income tax benefits to all faculty members of the universities, recognition of the journals, huge number of indigenous and foreign scholarships, strict actions against plagiarism, quality assurance system, accreditation, endogenous PhD program, huge spending on e-libraries established by the HEC for the universities, much emphasis on research publications and seminars and conferences are the measures that have been taken to improve the standard and quality of research activities in Pakistani universities.
The HEC-implemented model seems an integral part of the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) launched by the Planning Commission. The higher education related issues of Pakistan economy has been discussed broadly by different institutions and in different dimensions.
The issues were broadly covered in a report on the State of Higher Education prepared by Aga Khan Foundation in 2002, then the Boston Group prepared a comprehensive study on Higher Education in Pakistan in 2004. Pakistan Institute of Development Economics carried out a detailed study on the science and technology based industrial vision of Pakistan economy.
In the recent past, the World Bank has issued a policy note to assess the higher education in Pakistan in relation with the MTDF, linking the knowledge creating activities with the economic development is a common element in all these studies.
Academic research in Pakistani universities was an inseparable part of the chain of the knowledge based economic growth model implemented by the HEC. Academic research is published in the research journals after peer review by the external referees. The external referees or reviewers are considered as authority on the subject with sufficient research experience verifiable by their citation history or impact factors of their publications.
To become a member of the board of editors/referees a significant record of research publications in the good standing international journals is required. Their research credentials can be easily verified by any citation index or impact factors calculated by a well-reputed index.
In today's environment such updated information is freely available on Internet. The peer-reviewed system to evaluate the research output - including research publications and dissertations/thesis for awarding of research degrees - is the only criterion to verify the status and factual position of research work in the universities. Unfortunately, this system of research evaluation has been fabricated and misinterpreted in the faculties of management and social sciences in Pakistani universities. The fabrication in this system has badly damaged the HEC efforts and policy outcomes and derailed the entire growth model.
To fulfil the publications' requirements, some universities have launched their so-called research journals. It is an attempt to fulfil publications' requirements without adopting the peer-reviewed procedure in its real sense. The editors, referees/ reviewers and even HEC appointed committee members to evaluate the quality and originality of research publications in such journals do not have experience of publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Almost all the editors, referees and committee members of the Pakistani journals in the field of social and management sciences do not have even a single publication in the journal of impact factor. (Impact factor is a measure of the citations to science and social science journals. It is frequently used as a proxy for the importance of a journal to its field).
They try to avoid the international referral and citation system. The structure of the editorial boards and the contents of material tell the truth behind the awareness of academic research. Such published materials cannot be considered as research or knowledge creating activities. They cannot be included in a reputable abstract journal or citation index. Hence, it always creates a zero impact factor. It is a clear self-contradiction of the HEC policies.
HEC has also failed in strict implementation of research publication requirements in faculty promotions, appointment of new faculty either in basic pay scales or under the tenure track system, approval of the research supervisors, selections of the referees, reviewers and panellists at the time of approval of a research journal or a refereed conference and even in case of the appointment of a committee member to evaluate a research journal.
The list of approved supervisors and the committee members to evaluate the journals in management and social sciences at the HEC website shows that majority of the HEC approved team members do not have a single research publication in the international peer reviewed journals of impact factor. HEC has been relaxing the conditions on publication requirements from time to time.
Initially, publications in the journals of non-zero impact factor was imposed, then journals without impact factor but listed on approved abstract systems were accepted. Now, this condition has also been compromised. It is envisaged by HEC website that feasibility reports, consultancy services, newspaper articles and projects working papers are considered as research work.
This phenomena is not limited to the private sector, the promotions of faculty in public sector universities were also based on these 'ever-relaxing criteria'. The most important question in this regard is that how can a supervisor/reviewer can examine or supervise a quality research if he/she does not have any experience of research publications.
It is unfortunate that HEC polices and efforts have failed to create awareness about the importance and criterion of research publications in the faculties of management and social sciences. The non-availability of the refereed journals and citation indexes in the universities' libraries is one of the major causes behind the non-familiarity of faculty with the research norms and culture. It may be surprising, and even unbelievably, that majority of the management and social sciences faculty in Pakistani university even does not know the names of the peer reviewed journals in their field of specialisation.
It is noteworthy that HEC approved and well- reputed universities in private sector do not subscribe such journals for their libraries, while readings from those journals is a usual part of the curriculum in world average universities. At least one or two publications in such journals are considered as a mandatory requirement for a research degree.
The private sector universities try to justify that those journals are available on HEC provided e-library facility. This argument shows their unawareness about the use of e-library and its limitations. HEC provided facility cannot be a substitute of the print journals. The libraries in private sector universities even do not subscribe any 'abstract journal' or 'citation directory'.
It is notable that access to the peer reviewed journals, abstract journals and citation directories is a basic and minimum requirement for launching a research degree program, but even HEC does not feel its responsibility to confirm the fact behind the research degree programs in Pakistani universities. This practice is not only creating serious doubts on the creditability of the research degree programs; it is also a main hurdle in faculty development. (To be concluded)
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