Academia plays a major role in global transformations. The findings and discoveries from the incredible researches apply theory to practice and help in policy-building and system foundations. Therefore, it is important to promote a positive research culture around us in society, so that more such findings can benefit for social development. International journal houses work everyday to ensure a fair distribution and sharing of research findings through their open-access publication platforms. But a support system should exist within organizational leadership levels to promote a good research culture. It is not easy to achieve a uniformly satisfying research culture throughout, but steps towards improvement of research culture is necessary for institutional (i.e., university’s) reputation, as research productivity is affected by the culture in which it thrives. Also, good research culture helps in faculty advancement.
There are several ways to promote a positive research culture in the environment, and here are 8 most effective ways to do so:
- Maintain research integrity– An important aspect of research culture is an organization’s approach to research integrity – the formal and informal ethics, standards, protocols and policies researchers follow in their environment. Students, professors, research guides and leaders alike should maintain honesty in the task they conduct; they should uphold a basic commitment and respect towards their work. Everyone should closely assist one another to avoid data manipulation, plagiarism etc. Each person in the system should encourage the other in following protocols and policies so that a fair system can be nurtured.
- Facilitate open discussions about experiences– A positive research culture requires a support system for students and faculties, where everyone should learn from each other’s experiences and not judge negatively in any step. There should be open discussion platforms, via in-person meet-ups or electronic media, where people can share their research experiences, not only their effective findings, but also their less significant results; where people can share their successes as well as their failures in the way. There should be no such projection in the system, that seniors have reached their position by achieving only a series of successes. Juniors and new learners should be motivated with the challenges of their seniors too. This can develop a healthy interdependence between newer and older groups of researchers.
- Counselling bodies should be integrated to boost morale– Career counselling teams, research guides and coaching services should be incorporated in the system to support researchers and students whenever they are about to fall. Research activities like data collection, data analysis and interpretation can be really challenging and confusing for may of the academicians. Sometimes, worry about future scope and financial obligations can be demotivational. Counsellors can help uplift the morale of researchers in such situations and redirect them on the right path.
- Open personal relationships among faculties– A developing culture of research requires open and collaborative personal relationships among faculty members. Congenial relationships among faculty members would support a successful faculty‐to‐faculty research mentoring initiative. Such mentorships stand to be an important element of culture establishment. Personal ties among faculty are also likely to foster collaborative research efforts, which are a hallmark of research culture success.
- Involvement of Students in the system– The engagement and development of students in the system should be kept in consideration. Doctoral students who are exposed to research practices early in their education are more likely to complete their dissertations. Institutions may develop student research skills through research assistantships. They can also encourage students to publish in international journal, but without pressurizing them. Faculty mentors may also provide personalized research guidance. However, students’ opinion in research practices, research goals and objectives and methods should also be taken as input.
- Organizational departments and team leaders should set an example of excellent culture– Often early-career peers look upon their seniors, department heads and team leaders as role models for what they want to be like. They will imbibe the culture they will see around them. hence organizational systems, departments, team leaders, professors etc. should promote positive culture by taking part in advanced training programs, supporting each other in collaborated projects, discussing training gaps if any, and developing initiatives for workshops etc. for overall development. In this way, newcomers can learn what to do in the journey.
- To implement cultural change, administrators must be prepared to tailor resource allocations based on faculty members’ current motivations and abilities– Those with high motivation and low ability will likely make the best use of training and support resources. Those with low motivation would likely benefit most from developing personal relationships both within their unit and within the larger academic community.
- The positive research culture should be set and maintained at the institutional level– Highlight the importance of research culture and engage all staff across the organization by hosting a research culture and integrity day. Presentations, workshops and panel discussions could be given from across the organization. Different departments could showcase the ways they have improved research culture and integrity, as well as addressing areas where there is still room for improvement. A prominent culture takes years to develop, hence it should be maintained continuously. New policies relating to research must be enforced with regularity over time before they are accepted. Once changed policies have been accepted, administrators must be prepared to meet continuing challenges, such as maintaining research funding, developing partnerships with outside institutions to expand research opportunities, and confronting institutional changes
Positive research culture is pivotal to productive research. Every work that is published in the international journal must be quality product, having significant to social change, but for that, a good environment and culture should be developed for researchers, academicians and students. In order to motivate people towards research integrity and commitment, the system should be established to be supportive to one another. People should work in collaboration and embrace their successes and failures alike in their journey towards research achievement.
