(Unila): With reference to the 2023 SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR), the University of Lampung (Unila) has once again demonstrated its standing as one of the leading universities in Indonesia, reaching a ninth rank this year better than last year’s ranking.
The SCImago Institutions Rankings is a comprehensive categorization of academic and research-oriented institutions, which has been in existence since 2009. The evaluation is of a scientific nature and relies on composite indicators that integrate three distinct sets of variables.
The examined indicators are derived from research performance (Research Rankings), specifically the quantity of publications listed in the SCImago Journal Ranks and Scopus databases, innovation outcomes (Innovation Rankings), namely the quantity of patents generated by faculty members and downstream, and social impact (Societal Rankings) assessed through website visibility.
In addition to its overall rank among the top ten universities in Indonesia, Unila has also attained notable rankings in specific subject areas. Specifically, Unila has achieved a ranking of 2nd in the subject areas of Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology.
Unila has secured the 8th position in the field of Chemistry, the 10th position in Environmental Society, the 12th position in Agricultural and Biological Sciences, the 13th position in Sociology and Political Science, and the 14th position in Arts and Humanities, respectively.
In addition to the aforementioned topic areas, several others were also assessed and rated. These include Energy (ranked 17), Education (ranked 17), Economics, Econometrics and Finance (ranked 21), Geography, Planning and Development (ranked 24), Social Sciences (ranked 25), and Business, Management and Accounting (ranked 32). The increase in ranking indicates the good performance of Unila lecturers.
Unila Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Suripto Dwi Yuwono, said that this great achievement is the result of the work of lecturers in scientific works as indicated in Scopus indexed journals.
He is making a hard effort to improve this current ranking by encouraging lecturers to increase the number of international publications indexed by Scopus so that better rankings should be achieved next year. He also encourages doctoral students to publish the results of their research in international publications indexed by Scopus.
Dr. Suriptoin also believes that the students of the exact sciences, such as the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Doctoral Program, have greater prospects or the capacity to foster a rise in internationally recognized publications that are indexed by Scopus.
This is based on the data of tremendous number of publications predominantly generated by Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) and that of agricultures.
Encouraging Lecturer Innovation
According to Suripto, to achieve better ranking also needs to encourage lecturer with innovation in the future, providing lecturers with a strategy to produce more publications and the products of research in the forms of either tangible or intangible products.
Unila’s Future Targets and Strategy
The implementation of a strategy by a university leads to the attainment of rankings as a notable accomplishment. The development of an appropriate strategy is vital for the preparation of each sort of ranking, as it must align with the specific assessment criteria.
The Ministry’s introduction of the eight primary performance indicators (IKU) ensures that every single strategy should be subject to evaluation and rating. Hence, universities are obliged to adhere to these eight key performance indicators (KPIs) as the fundamental framework for attaining optimal performance.
According to Dr. Suripto, the aforementioned accomplishment has been deliberated with Prof. Lusmeilia Afriani, the Chancellor of Unila and the Chancellor has set a goal for the number of publications indexed by Scopus to reach 500 by the year 2024.
The adopted initiatives encompass the promotion of international publications among junior instructors, the facilitation of research activities for lecturers, and the encouragement of doctorate students to conduct research and publish in indexed journals, all under the auspices of LPPM.
Subsequently, it is recommended to adopt a publication incentive strategy as it was applied in preceding years and to establish a need for professors with research capabilities to produce outputs from internationally recognized journals indexed by Scopus, pertaining to certain research schemes.
Additionally, he recognized the opportunity for Master’s students to engage in international seminars at Unila and to have their written works published in Scopus indexed proceedings.
Unila periodically organizes international seminars particularly for the sake of Scopus indexed proceedings, and the participation of master’s students in such events.
If the expected target is achieved, in the future Unila’s target will not only focus on increasing the number of journal articles, but also the number of journal citations for lecturers. In this way, both the quality and quantity aspects of publications by Unila lecturers should be achieved. [PR Team]
