Letter: Efforts to increase scientific papers

Recently, the Directorate General of Higher Education (Dikti) at the Education and Culture Ministry released a new policy that makes producing a scientific journal publication as a graduation requirement for every undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate student in Indonesia.

The background of this policy is the low number of Indonesia’s scientific publications that lag far behind fellow Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia. By implementing this policy, Dikti hopes there will be improvement in the quality of Indonesian graduates.

Many private universities, represented by the Association of Indonesian Private University (APTISI), object this policy. They say it is impossible to publish thousands of scientific journals every year since there are thousands of students who graduate every year, especially undergraduate students. They have expressed concern that the publications will lack quality.

The House of Representatives’ Commission X supervising education supported the objection, saying that the policy was premature. The lawmakers said Dikti should think about the reward for students who published their papers. They think money is the infrastructure for this policy.

Indeed, it seems impossible to publish thousands of papers in a year. Our country just does not have enough journals to publish those papers. There are only 121 journals accredited by Dikti. Not to mention, to publish a good quality journal needs time for peer-review. Of course, this is not a good situation for students, especially undergraduates studying the natural sciences, since they are only given one year for the research and thesis writing.

But I think those difficulties should not discourage Dikti from fighting for its cause. Director General of Higher Education Djoko Santoso was right in proposing online journals as an alternative solution. Universities could create their own online journal that could facilitate research publication.

It doesn’t matter if the journal does not match Nature or Science. It is obvious that Dikti puts improvement of students’ quality before that of Indonesian sciences.

Improving students’ quality is therefore pressing. We know that many Indonesian undergraduate students go to universities just for a diploma while doing recreational activities.

Dikti’s policy could offer a way out of this problem. The online journal will enable the students to improve their writing skills and logic. It doesn’t matter if their work is only published on the Internet.

Rewards are not relevant to the issue. Writing and doing research is obligatory for every student in the world. Among university students, publishing a scientific paper is merely about academic purposes, rather than money.

Dikti’s new policy is indeed a turning point for Indonesian science and education. This is the first step to improving the country’s human capital. Just give it a try.
Dyna Rochmyaningsih
Jakarta