RESEARCH POLICY

KCA University expects that all those involved in research and publications at the university who include faculty, non-academic staff, students, alumni, visiting professors and students, and all partners and collaborators to conduct research and publications in conformity with highest ethical standards upholding integrity and quality. This applies to all types of research and all types of funding sources.

• The Research, Innovation and Outreach Division will come up with a 3-year strategic research agenda for KCA University from which Schools, Faculties, Institutes, Centers and their constituent academic units will draw their research priority areas;
• Then, each School, Faculty, Institute, Centre and their constituent academic units will be required to develop and implement its own research priority areas. The agendas and research priority areas should cascade into the KCA University research plan;
• In deciding the priority areas of research focus, the fundamental consideration should be relevant to global and national agendas such as Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063 Vision 2030 etc., alignment with the KCA University strategic plan, the University’s vision and mission statements, usefulness to industry and benefits to community and societal development.

For the purposes of this policy, the research funding and support are classified into two, namely:

1. Institutional Research Fund which will be known as Vice Chancellor’s Research Grant; and
2. Sponsored Research Funds which will be known as Research Grants. The policy statements of the research funding and support is as follows:

• The directorate of research support and dissemination through the office of research support is responsible of searching and informing the KCA University researchers about the available funding opportunities. However, all faculty members are also encouraged to search for these opportunities and report to the office of research support before the application process starts;
• The office of research support will assist the researchers with administrative processes such as application of licenses, compiling necessary documentation, drafting contracts in liaison with the legal office and any other administrative duties;
• The KCA University researchers will be expected to file required documentation with the research support office to report on the proposals, applications and resulting contracts that are being undertaken at any given point.
• Regardless of the funding source, all KCA University researchers are expected to comply with the terms and conditions associated with the respective funding sources, which should be in line with KCA University policies and government regulations.

Research is one of the most essential functions of the Universities. Therefore, KCA University expects all University researchers to publish their research outputs and findings in reputable ranked journals. To promote quality research in reputable journals, KCA University will institute a Publications Reward System to recognize and honor the efforts of researchers at KCA University. This is meant to encourage and grow outstanding research products in order to uplift the University’s rankings through excellence in teaching, research and quality learning experiences by the students. The policy statements for the Publications Reward System are as follows:

Submitted publication must fulfil the following eligibility criteria:

• The article type could be a “full paper”, “review paper” or “research note”. Publications under “Letters to the Editor”, “Editorial”, “Case-study Report”, “Book Reviews” are not qualified for the reward;
• The applicant must have published their research article(s) during the period of their employment at KCA University;
• The Publication Year must fall within the period of implementation of the University’s Research Policy that is after January 2022;
• The Publication must bear the name of KCA University as the applicant’s institutional affiliation;
• Details of the publication must have been submitted in writing to the Dean, Research, Innovations and Outreach one month before the application processing;
• The journal publication must be published in high ranking journals;
• Papers under review or accepted but not yet published online are not eligible to apply;
• The reward is distributed to all authors who published in recognizable ranked journals;
• Ranking of journals is based on the Association of Business School (ABS) latest Academic Journal Guide, Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) latest Journal Quality List and any other Quality list as determined by the Research, Innovation and Outreach Committee of KCA University;
• There is no limit on the number of applications that an eligible author can submit;
• The same research article or publication cannot be submitted more than once.