Mar Ivanios College, an autonomous institution affiliated with the University of Kerala aiming at providing quality advanced education and world-class research has six well-established research centres attached to the Departments of English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Zoology and Commerce. The faculty members with external guideships also add up to the mainstream research guides of the college. The College always gives priority to interdisciplinary and collaborative research and wishes that the output of research should reach out to society and be supportive of mankind. The College has a definite research vision that is carried out through a well-framed research strategic plan. For setting research priorities, specific goals are defined for each research theme. To design, establish, monitor and maintain the research plans, the College has constituted the Research and Development Cell (RDC) including the Heads of all research departments and all the research supervisors of the institution. The RDC advances, promotes and looks into the ethical aspects of research and plays a vital role in promoting the research agenda and culture.
1. Purpose
This research policy provides a vision of the nature of research undertaken in the College and the support extended to faculty, research supervisors and students for research excellence. The policy helps in creating a friendly and healthy environment that promotes knowledge creation which is fair and just. The policy also helps to promote quality research that meets societal concerns.
2. Scope
This research policy forms the basis of the research ethics of the College and is applicable to all the research centres. It serves as a guideline to establish a vibrant and healthy environment for research on campus. The policy also helps to channel the intellectual property of the college for academic, industrial, medical, pharmaceutical and societal applications.
3. Objectives
The main objectives of this research policy are:
- To bring out research which prioritizes application and is action-oriented with a focus on societal developmental needs.
- To enhance the research culture and to develop a progressive academic environment within the institution.
- To improve the infrastructural facilities to ensure a comfortable environment for the smooth progress of research.
- To strengthen and upscale the instrumentation and computational facilities as per the demands of the time.
- To encourage interdisciplinary research collaborations with the different research centres of the institution and also with national and international institutions to foster high-quality research.
- To collaborate with external agencies for mutually beneficial research projects.
- To ensure publication of research findings in reputed peer-reviewed, indexed and impact factor journals and other relevant quality publications.
- To promote socially relevant research by keeping human needs and human values at the core of knowledge creation and dissemination.
- To support the ambitions of individual scholars, by encouraging those to pursue their own research agenda and enabling them to realize their ambitions.
4. Custodian of the Policy
The implementation and updating of the research policy shall be carried out by the RDC in consultation with the Research Council. The RDC may review and amend the policy as and when required.
5. Research Council
The research council is the core body of RDC to make major decisions. This body will also help the research centres/research supervisors of the college to associate with reputed research institutions, industries, organizations and agencies with the objective of collaboration, guidance, and sharing of resources and research ideas. The council can consist of a minimum of fifteen members who have an understanding of the inter-relationship between research and practice. The members of the council include,
- The Principal–Chairman of the council
- The Bursar–Ex-officio member and representative of the management
- Dean of Studies
- RDC Director
- A staff member from the college council
- Head/representative of each research centre of the college
- One external expert from each major department of the college – Research Advisory Council (RAC)
The council may meet at least once a year to analyse the research status of the college. Each meeting requires a minimum of eight members in attendance.
6. Policy and Guidelines
6.1 Requirement to undertake research:
Faculty members, research supervisors and research scholars of Mar Ivanios College shall strive to hold the institution in an appreciative position in the different national and international ranking schemes. They are expected to undertake research leading to patents, publications, and socially useful innovative research activities for knowledge enhancement. They are also expected to emphasize bringing as many research funds, from external agencies, as possible to the college.
6.2 Obligations of researchers:
Research guides and scholars should be aware of their obligations to the institution. They are supposed to comply with the research policy, research protocols, and financial and ethical guidelines of the college and the affiliated University. The policy of RDC must be followed by the research guides and scholars working as research teams.
6.3 Integrity and ethical obligations:
The research guides and scholars are required to adhere to the principles of integrity and ethics of the college. They are expected to observe integrity and professionalism in all actions of research including planning experiments/studies, recording, generating, analyzing, archiving, applying for funding to carry out projects, training new researchers, and presenting and publishing the research work. Research carried out in the centres should be free from plagiarism and fraudulence. Any misconduct/allegation of research will be addressed by the RDC.
6.4 Research Ethics:
The process and outcome of the research should not conflict with the interests of the college or the well-being of society. Any researcher involved in collaborative research with external agencies should ensure that there is no conflict of interest between the college and the agencies. The regulations of UGC, the affiliating University and the Academic Council of the college have to be followed in all research activities. Research output shall be made public by publishing in peer-reviewed journals with high-impact factors after giving due credit/acknowledgement to those who are concerned with the study. The authors of a publication shall be responsible for the contents of the article and the college will in no way be made a party to the dispute, which may arise. Permission must be sought from authorities and RDC before applying for a patent/license related to research outputs. The thesis or research outputs generated or published by a research scholar shall be a document of the institution and the same can be published in the institute portal or media without any prior permission. All types of experiments on animals must be performed only after attaining the approval of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC). Compliance with all regulatory requirements, rules, guidelines and laws related to animal experiments must be ensured. The research shall not be on children or disabled persons without prior permission of their parents/guardians and shall not hurt the emotions or societal dignity of the groups concerned. The article for publication must be authentic and devoid of plagiarism. All research guides/scholars must follow the anti-plagiarism guidelines published by the University of Kerala or the University in which they are registered. All publications should pass through the plagiarism checker software before final submission. All research groups in the college may respect each other and may exist in harmony on campus. Any conflicts of interest between researchers and research groups will be dealt with by the Research Council.
6.5 Research management:
The management of the research may be coordinated by the RDC of the college. In each department/centre the activities may be coordinated by the Heads of the concerned department/centre. The RDC of the college will provide a quality, creative and academic environment for the research scholars to work constructively. A three-day Annual Researchers’ Meet may be organized during the second week of February every year. Invited lectures and plenary sessions may be arranged to enrich the students’ outlook on research. Opportunities may be provided to research scholars to exhibit their works and findings. Excellent works will be identified and awarded.
6.6 Resources in support of research:
The College gives great importance to promoting quality research among faculty members. Accordingly, financial support will be extended for two main purposes (i) to recognize and encourage the faculty to be involved in active quality research and (ii) to maintain the research labs and equipment in good condition. Seed money will be granted to the faculty to start research programmes. Applications will be called for every year for the same and faculty members who have no other research grants and who have a minimum of ten years left for retirement are eligible to apply. A faculty can receive the seed money only once in the service tenure. The proposals will be scrutinized and the final selection, through face-to-face interviews, will be done by the Research Council. Small-scale financial assistance may be extended for the maintenance of research labs and equipment. Proposals for the same must be submitted to the RDC. The RDC will make a decision in consultation with the Principal and Dean of Studies. The research supervisors are encouraged to publish the maximum number of works in peer-reviewed journals. An incentive will be provided to the corresponding author of a research paper from the third research publication onwards annually.
6.7 Research planning and strategy:
The college through RDC and the Research Council will prepare a research strategy and action plan from time to time taking into account the demands of the society and input from the various collaborating institutions/agencies. Each research centre is required to develop a research plan in accordance with national/ international standards.
6.8 Database:
The RDC shall create and maintain a database of the research work and research projects undertaken by the faculty and students. Details of research guides, research scholars, research projects (agency, amount and status), PhD awarded, Seminar/Conference presentations, publications, infrastructure and instrumental facilities and Journals/Books subscribed will be updated regularly.
6.9 Consultancy:
The research findings originated from the college if found to have potential industrial application, the RDC shall initiate activities like consultancy projects, patenting, technology transfer, etc with respective bodies, viz., industrialists, Government agencies etc. The earned income from consultancy shall be shared by the institution and individual researcher (inventor/facilitator) in the proportion of 60:40 per cent. An individual faculty who is able to facilitate can be a consultant in his/her field of expertise and shall follow the regulations mentioned herein.
7. General guidelines
The College stands for high-quality and human-beneficial research at any time. The project proposals or research synopsis shall be reasonable and sustainable work which will minimize all risks associated with humanity, national integrity, patriotism and the culture of the land. It should in no way hurt or cause an adverse impact on the biodiversity of nature, environment, social life and peaceful atmosphere of the country. Such results, if any, shall not be made public without the approval of the higher authorities concerned.
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