AsianScientist (Mar. 9, 2012) – On January 27 this year, the Directorate General of Higher Education (DIKTI), Ministry of National Education, Indonesia released a new policy that made scientific publication a graduation requirement for every undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate student in Indonesia.
The background of this policy is the worringly low number of scientific publications from Indonesia, leaving it far behind other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
By implementing this policy, DIKTI hopes there will be an improvement in the quality of each Indonesian degree.
Many private universities, represented by Association of Indonesian Private Universities (APTISI), have objected to this policy, arguing that the target cannot be met.
Prof. Dr. Edy Suandi Hamid, M.Ec, President of APTISI, said on the website of Islamic University of Indonesia that it is impossible to publish thousands of scientific papers every year, since there are thousands of students who graduate every year, especially undergraduates. Hamid said that the number of national journals are insufficient to handle an increase in journal submissions.
“Perhaps, we can publish those papers in international scientific journals. However, it is a difficult thing since there is small number of Indonesia postgraduate student who publish their scientific writing or present their research in international forums,” said Hamid.
This objection is proving to be a challenge for DIKTI. According to Sri Hartinah, Head of the Center for Scientific Information and Documentation, only 300 journals in Indonesia have national accreditation, and they cannot accommodate thousands of papers for scientific publication each year.
To overcome this problem, DIKTI’s Directorate General, Djoko Santoso, proposed that electronic journals (e-journals) may provide an alternative solution. Santoso said that each university could develop its own e-journal to facilitate research publication by its students.
Pertaining to this, DIKTI has made guidelines for the management of these e-journals. Each department which makes an e-journal has been requested to refer to these guidelines to maintain the publication quality of scientific papers.
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Source: Universitas Islam Indonesia.
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