Education Minister: We need to improve quality of research

Maldivian researchers, especially local universities, need to focus more on improving the quality of research, says Education Minister Dr. Ismail Shafeeu, adding that it is an issue that requires urgent address at a national level.

He made the remarks while speaking at the inauguration on Saturday of the Islamic University of Maldives (IUM)’s 9th International Conference on Intellectual Advancement (ICIA).

In his address, Shafeeu said that other than providing education, one of the biggest purposes of universities is to produce scientific research.

 He said that up until 1988, the number of research produced in the Maldives had been in the single digits. The number rose to the double digits in 2016, and rose close to 250 in 2023.

“However, with the work of these two universities [IUM and Maldives National University], and the increased focus on higher education, the number of publications has increased. This is something worth celebrating,” he said.

Total citations of Maldivian research papers have also increased, from under 30 in 2000 to over 6,000 in 2023.

But he said while total research papers and citations have increased, there is a gap between published research and citations.

“But there are some things we need to think about. While total citations have increased; we had 28 to 30 papers in 2000, but all papers were cited. But in 2023, when we produced 250 publications, many of these papers did not receive any citations. Therefore, there is a gap between the number of published research and citations,” he said.

Shafeeu said that researchers, especially universities, need to focus more on improving the quality of research.

“Therefore, researchers, especially universities, need to pay higher priority to improving the quality of research alongside the quantity,” he said.

Shafeeu said that if local researchers aren’t able to improve the quality of publications, then the publications they produce will not be cited by global researchers.

“I believe this is an issue we must urgently address at the national level,” he said.

Fields covered in local research publications:

• Science: 18.98 percent
• Business, economy and management: 11.81 percent
• Health: 8.68 percent
• Education: 3.43 percent
• Environment: 0.72 percent
• Mathematics: 0.45 percent
• Others: 52.44 percent

Shafeeu expressed concern over the lack of scientific research on key fields such as science, mathematics and engineering.

“We need to focus on research in the fields of math, science, engineering. Our national productivity can only increase if we prioritize these fields,” he said.

Shafeeu also noted the shortage of research on the environment, given how important for an environmentally-vulnerable country such as Maldives.

“Environment is a very important field for us. The Maldives has a very unique and delicate environment. Our entire tourism sector depends on our natural resources,” he said.

Shafeeu said that the establishment of the promised National Research Fund – which will create a mechanism for researchers to secure finding – will provide some solution to this.