The power of (non IF) scopus-indexed paper.
In Malaysia, Scopus-indexed papers are a norm. They are highly valued and everyone rushes to publish in such journals . It is even a figure of merit for our local university yearly appraisal. The problem with this approach is that, since they do not have any impact factors, you can literally publish anything. Naturally, it would be very difficult if these papers are submitted for publication in Impact Factor journals.
From my limited experience in other countries, they typically do not aim for such papers. You either have good quality data (at least good enough for Q4), or you do not publish at all. Personally for me, I do not want to publish porridge. But here, it is a figure of merit for promotion and even for graduation.
First Example:
A master student presented in one of the largest conference in Japan for my field. It is the 60th Annual Meetings of the Society of Electron Spin Science and Technology (SEST 2021). It is even older than some universities in Malaysia. However, because his submission is just an abstract and not a "full" conference paper, he was denied graduation.
It is not that I do not want to publish but I do not want to publish porridge. I want to publish important/novel results but at his stage, his results are good but not up to IF journals standard -- which is totally fine for a MSc level.
To overcome this predicament, I was thinking of asking my student to publish a scopus-indexed paper without my name but apparently, that is not counted as well. The paper must have the supervisor's name to be counted. So, clearly, this is all about scoring "points" for the local university rankings with non-IF papers.
Another Example:
If you organize a conference in Malaysia without publication in a Scopus-indexed journal or scopus-indexed proceeding, you can expect that most likely, no one will be interested to join your conference
Of course many would disagree with me and would claim that their non-IF papers (i.e. scopus-indexed journals without IF) holds merit for publication. Yes, maybe but here is my question: what is the real reason for publication? Isn't it to share new (significant) findings? If you think that your paper has significant new findings, then aim for an IF paper. Along with that line of thought, let's change the yearly appraisal requirements to IF paper only where non-IF (i.e. scopus-indexed) are not counted. Then only does your paper has merit for publication. Anyone dare to take this challenge?
It is sad when you chase after credits so much, that you forget what is publishing all really about.. Sharing novel results/methods so that others can benefit.
Even the yearly APS March meeting, which Nature identifies it as "one of the world's biggest scientific conference", only has a collection of abstracts.
There is a saying in Malay: "Apabila terlalu mengejar harta dunia..."
Attending Conferences (local or overseas):
If someone wants to attend a conference, if there is no publication, then one cannot pay for that conference using the local grant.
There has to be a publication. Again, all for the sake of chasing after KPIs. The real reason for attending conferences is to catch up with others in the field, share your experiments (that can be incomplete or completed), learn what others are doing. This holds true for students and academician alike. It is also an avenue for students to practice their social skills and presentation skills.
But here, we have rules where if you want to attend a conference, you must submit a draft of your publication before you can make any claims...
The science stops at 5 pm
Labs are NOT opened after 5 pm. You are forced to leave after office hours.
Emphasis for Graduate on Time (GOT)
A Grandiose Celebration for Everything
...will compile more as I encounter them...