The Quality of Researches of a Southeast Asian University as Evaluated by Peer Reviewers

A documentary analysis of peer review results of 92 studies determined the quality of researches of a Southeast Asian university. The study found that mechanisms are in place for the development of a research culture. The strict refereeing process that yielded a high rejection rate is a sound mechanism that identifies researches with potential for utilization and publication in a refereed journal and ensures the integrity of the university’s publications. The quality of faculty and student researches is satisfactory in the substantive, methodological, and style aspects as evaluated by peer reviewers from the Visayas and Mindanao. However, the qualitative evaluation of the external referees reveals that the researches have deficiencies along research conceptualization, analysis, and interpretation of research, indicating that the studies are barely adequate to meet the requirement for refereed publication. The acceptance rate of researches is 51 percent while the rejection rate is 49 percent, suggesting that 1 out of 2 researches by faculty and students may be accepted by the referees. The quality of the researches varied significantly across colleges, indicating that the researchers’ competencies differed by disciplines.

 

Keywords - documentary analysis, peer review, quality of researches, external referees