The Office of the Dean of Research held an interactive workshop titled, “Good Research and its Traits,” the fourth in the Research and Creativity colloquia series for the 2021-2022 academic year, on Thursday, 11 November 2021.

The workshop was attended by faculty members from the English Department, Arabic Department, the Humanities Department, the Math Department, and the Software Engineering Department.

At the beginning of the workshop, Prof Jamil Khader, Dean of Research, noted that this workshop ties in with the previous one regarding past research that was not published. Assuming that faculty are interested in continuing to develop their work, they need to ensure that their research project meets the criteria of good and publishable research.

Prof Khader invited faculty to speak about their expectations and criteria for good research in their respective fields. Participants raised various issues they think are critical in good research. These included the originality of the research project, its methodology, objectivity, applicability to problems in the community, and generalizability. Faculty members discussed the different aspects of these categories and provided examples from their fields.

The discussion also addressed other issues. For example, participants wondered whether a study that reveals negative results that do not support the hypothesis could be published. While negative results studies are rare, most journals do not publish such studies. 

The issue of publication venue was raised as well. Prof Khader reminded faculty members of the need to check the impact of a journal and its h-index on Scimago and Resurchify as well as the list of accredited journals on the website of the Deanship of Research at the University of Jordan.