Kenya’s Commission for University Education (CUE) is developing criteria for evaluating academic journals produced by universities, in what it says is a step towards regulating publications and ensuring their quality.
Once the criteria are developed, universities will be required to submit papers for peer review and approval before they are published in journals. The standardization policy is being developed in consultation with Kenyan Universities.
Speaking during a CUE staff sensitization workshop on scholarly publishing and dissemination of scientific information, Prof Jackson Too, the Head of Research Department at CUE, said “Majority of the academic journals published in Kenya are not subjected to the rigor that a refereed journal should go through. Journals must have a robust peer review process that guarantees quality."
He further added that CUE has benchmarked with South Africa and is ready for the task of curbing plagiarism, falsification of data and infringement of copyright.
According to CUE senior official Professor Grace Njoroge, the review will be done in line with the Universities Act 2012, which mandates the commission to regulate teaching, research and publication in universities.
Dr Paul Gichohi, a University Librarian at Kenya Methodist University who facilitated the training called on CUE to step up measures to help stop predatory journals which he noted were mainly foreign and targeted junior scholars, and whose sole mission was the pursuit of money at the expense of quality of research work.
“We need to have a structured guide on scientific publishing practices. We also need to establish our own local journals that are governed by an accrediting body. This could be CUE,” he said.
The steps to entrench quality assurance come after the commission announced it would start accrediting journals earlier this year.
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Article by Jedidah Mwangi
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