Expectations for Research and Scholarly Activity
Goal Six of Al Ain University’s strategic plan deals with fostering research and providing support for faculty members to succeed in their research and scholarly activities. Each faculty member should also have a research plan and positively engage in productive and creative research, along with teaching and community engagement activities. Each faculty member is expected to have at least one refereed scholarly work per academic year published in reputable Scopus-Indexed journals. These expectations have been articulated to the Deans of the colleges by the university top administration and embodied in appointment criteria, faculty performance evaluations and criteria for promotion.
- Appointment criteria: While shortlisting a candidate faculty for interview, the AAU hiring committee looks into the candidate’s academics and scholarly credentials and Scopus Profile (See Faculty Appointment Policy).
- Faculty Performance Evaluation: The yearly faculty appraisal constitutes a substantive part of the research. The appraisal criteria contain 30% of the evaluation score dedicated to research productivity of the faculty member.
- Criteria for Promotion: A faculty member must have an impressive research record with quality publications to be considered for a promotion to a higher rank. According to the promotion policy of AAU, scholarly activities are the most important factor in the promotion process (Faculty Promotion Policies and Procedures). To promote research activities, the rules for promotion system and renewing contracts are designed to reflect the quality of performance in appropriate research, teaching, and community engagement. At the end of each semester, faculty members report their research and scholarly productivity in different forms for evaluation by the University Research Committee Members.