The Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) responsible for research, Prof. Nelson Boniface made an official visitation to DUCE last week. In the visit, he was accompanied by the Acting Director of Research and Publications, who is also the Coordinator of UDSM Projects and Grants, Dr. Mathew Senga, and the Principal Administrative Officer, Ms. Dorah Njau.

The DVC - Research deliberately shared his views on DUCE research portfolio and other issues related to UDSM global ranking through visibility of researchers and research outputs.

In his brief welcoming note, the College Principal, Prof. Stephen Maluka remarked that DUCE cherishes research and wants to contribute fully to the mission and vision of UDSM.

Speaking during the meeting, the DVC - Research insisted that UDSM is looking forward to becoming the World-class university by 2061. To achieve this milestone, researchers in all UDSM units ought to publish vigorously in media that can be harnessed by the global ranking institutions and organizations.

In the same meeting, DVC - Research, Professor Nelson Boniface and the DUCE team shared the procedures of University vetting system. Members urged that, while most of the scholarship are through open access system, some of the research outputs at UDSM are not available online and cannot be harnessed for global ranking. And that, while the research agenda and the policy of UDSM promotes multidisciplinary research and co-authorship, the vetting system does not award satisfactory points to publications with many contributors.

In his view, Dr. Mathew Senga urged researchers at DUCE in particular to register their publications in platforms that can be harnessed by ranking organizations. He mentioned such platforms to include Scopus, Google Scholar and Research Gate. He also requested UDSM researchers to publish in outlets which are indexed in reputable databases for the purpose of harnessing publications by global ranking associations.