| Rokiah Mahmud |
SEVERAL institutions of higher education in Brunei have been ranked among the best in the region, which is a testament to the Ministry of Education (MoE)’s emphasis on improving the quality of the local higher education system.
This was highlighted yesterday by Deputy Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education Dr Chin Wei Keh during the opening of the Editor’s Workshop for the ASEAN Citation Index and Scopus, jointly organised by Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB), Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and the ASEAN Citation Index (ACI Secretariat).
Dr Chin Wei Keh also added that the MoE views the workshop as one of the many good initiatives undertaken by local institutions to improve their quality and reputation.
“As you are well aware, the ASEAN Citation Index is a central regional database which is designed to index all bibliographic records and citations of all quality ASEAN research output,” he said.
“The main objective of this workshop is to introduce the ACI to the editors of Brunei journals and facilitate the inclusion of Brunei journals in its database.
“This workshop will provide the editors of Brunei journals with information on the process of journal submissions and the selection criteria for inclusion into the ACI database.
“From 2013 up to the present, the ACI has grown considerably, owing to the number of indexed journals and its international reputation.
“In 2014, the ACI indexed only 41 Thai journals, but currently there are 407 journals from nine member countries, including one journal from Brunei, which is the Brunei International Medical Journal.”
Dr Chin Wei Keh urged the workshop participants to set targets on the number of Brunei journals to be indexed in the next five years.
“Based on the recommendation of the ACI Steering Committee, an editor’s workshop will help develop the quality of journals published in ASEAN to meet international standards, which will then lead to inclusion in the ACI and Scopus indexing,” he said.
“The workshop is the first of its kind to be held in Brunei. Similar courses have already been conducted in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam.”