Journal Archives

Fall 2024 

12-12-2024 03:53 PM

Volume LV, Number 2

From the Editor's Desk

Author

Jennifer E. Taylor, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Rush Medical Center and University

The Journal of Research Administration (JRA) is the premier scholarly publication in research administration and management. We publish timely, essential work that adds to the knowledge base for research administration and contributes to enhancing the work of research administrators across the globe. Through these contributions, JRA is an essential educational and career development resource for our field. Our contributors share best practices and innovative approaches to address research administrators' challenges and opportunities in our fast-paced, ever-changing contexts while advancing their careers by publishing peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles that enhance our field.

The current issue is characterized by high-quality, important manuscripts from our outstanding authors that will contribute to the work of those in research administration and those who depend on that work. I am pleased to note that this issue contains more submissions than usual. I hope you will find them as fascinating and valuable as I did. I am also struck by the number of manuscripts in this issue, as well as prior ones, that come from colleagues across the globe. The continuing excellence and breadth of contributions we receive for inclusion in JRA reflect the ongoing growth of the field that so many in SRAI, and in our profession more broadly, have nurtured over the more than 50-year history of JRA and SRAI. On behalf of JRA, I encourage you to send your manuscripts regarding your work in research administration and management to JRA. I would also like to highlight that JRA continues not to have any publication charges for authors who submit to our journal.  We hope this will be an added incentive to send your relevant work to us.
The manuscripts contained in the current issue reflect the broad range of countries and settings in which research administrators conduct their work, the key issues and challenges they deal with daily, and the innovative and essential solutions research administrators bring to bear as they carry out their vital efforts. We thank the authors for turning to JRA as a preferred outlet for their work, as well as a source of critical conceptual and practical scholarship to guide both their work and that of colleagues. 

Many of the manuscripts in this issue focus on developing a better understanding of the issues that pertain to the partnerships among research administrators, faculty, and broader institutional elements as they seek to enhance the levels of faculty engagement and capacity in successfully seeking external funding and growing their careers. Our authors address these issues across research-intensive institutions and those in institutions and nations where research and external funding are in earlier phases of development. Other authors examine ways we may continue to grow the field of research administration through engagement with professional associations. 

Our first manuscript, “Extending Professionalization Boundaries in Research Management and Administration”, comes from our colleagues in South Africa.  Charmaine Williamson from the University of South Africa and Karin Dyason from the South African Research and Innovation Management Association examined how a professional membership organization may serve to extend and enhance professionalization in research management and administration (RMA).  Thematic narrative analyses underscored how the Association was proficient in sharing critical strategies to advance RMA professionalization, specifically in the Global South. They go on to share with our readers ways such influences can also impact the policies and practices of funding agencies and governments who invest in science and research.

Francis Kiweewa from Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP), Kampala-Uganda, and the Lira Regional Referral Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Lira-Uganda, along with a broad team of collaborators provide us with an additional perspective on institutional capacity for research administration, now in Uganda with a specific focus on supporting early-career scientists.  In their article, “Improving Scientific and Grant Writing Among Early-Career Scientists Involved in Health Science Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Case of Strengthening Institutional Capacity for Research Administration in Uganda (SICRA),” they describe a set of national workshops to achieve this goal. Their team conducted 3-day face-to-face and virtual training workshops in scientific and grant writing targeting early-career scientists (ECS) at institutions involved in health research and graduate training across Uganda. Experimental impact assessments were conducted with participants, and results are explored in detail in this in-depth look at the work in a context where resources may be limited.

Providing us with a national perspective, Gen Clark, from the University of Saskatchewan, along with Dr. Anita K. Sharma, from Thompson Rivers University, in their paper “A Descriptive Study of Research Development in Canadian Research Institutions,” offer us a discussion of an effort to develop a comprehensive understanding of research development practices across Canada. They created and administered a survey to self-identified practitioners affiliated with the two largest professional associations of research management and administration in Canada. The goals were to understand better how research facilitation is structured and implemented across that country.  The authors state, “This descriptive study contributes some of the first empirical findings into the demographics, practice settings, and professional activities of Canadian research development practitioners.” 

In the article, entitled “Faculty Perceptions: A Mixed Method Look into Grant Proposal Writing”, Drs. Julie Swaringim-Griffin and Christine Johnson from Oklahoma State University conducted a mixed-methods study of faculty perceptions of the “various myths and truths of grant writing and the purpose of grant writing.”  This work was conducted in the context of a recent increase in grant funding at the institution and to provide research administrators with a better understanding of how to support and encourage faculty as they move to increase their funding levels.  

Lauren Gant and Christine Velez from the University of Colorado Denver, along with Dr. Mónica Torres of NMSU Community Colleges, are also concerned with the ways institutions can understand the adequacy of support systems grant writing by identifying the needs of their faculty and administrators as they pursue such efforts. In their paper “Measuring Institutional Capacity for Grantsmanship: Constructing a Survey Tool for Institutions to Assess Institutional Support for Faculty and Administrators to Pursue Grant Funding,” describe their mixed-methods study on developing an assessment tool to evaluate the level of institutional capacity for grantsmanship within higher educational institutions. In this manuscript, they share with us the process of creating their survey instrument, which resulted in six reliable scales that can help those at other institutions examine their strengths and needs as they seek to enhance their capacity for grantsmanship further.

In related work, this time from the United Kingdom, the authors examine the utility of creating small, mutually supportive groups of researchers in promoting and supporting their research, and the value of research more generally in their department.  A. Baker, L. Baldini, J. Bojko, K. Chamberlain, A. Collings, C. Ennis, J. He, J, Holtvoeth, D. McNally, C. Orr, C. Pschenyckyj, A. Reid, E.Rollason, & G. Taylor from Teesside University, Keele University, the University of Liverpool, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Newcastle University, and the University of Northumbria engaged in a multisite, multidisciplinary study of “research collectives” as effective mechanisms for enhancing research, regardless of discipline, within university settings that have not been research-intensive in the past.  In their paper, “The Research Collective as an Emergent Model to Grow Research Careers in a Teaching-Led Academic Environment,” these authors define a research collective as a self-formed group of researchers “who are engaged in supporting each other and presenting themselves united when aiming to promote both their own research, and when promoting the value of research in their department, thereby creating around them an empowering proximate research culture.”  They propose the use of such research collaboratives as an alternative to what they call the “academic super-hero” model where faculty are expected to excel in multiple areas, in short timeframes, with little assistance. The advantages of this approach are described and illustrated using the work of one unit’s research collective as an example. The authors further suggest actions that research administrators and other stakeholders may engage in to support the creation of research collectives. 

Our final manuscript addresses issues of growing research careers and funding in emerging and teaching-led higher education institutions.  The paper, “Positioning Faculty for Funding at an Emerging Research Institution: A Case Study to Inform Faculty Academy Programs,” comes to us from Dr. Melani W. Duffrin, Kelly M. Dyslin, Luke Sebby, Jasmina Mesic, Dara Little, and Dr. Gerald C. Blazey, all of Northern Illinois University, Dr. Chris Duffrin, Benedictine University, and Dr. Lynda Ransdell, PhD from Boise State University.  They present us with an in-depth look at an effort to employ a Community of Practice (CoP) strategy to create an infrastructure in an Emerging Research Institution (ERI) that enables faculty to expand skill sets and work in more robust interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research teams to position them better to seek funding. The case study describes the efforts in detail and offers us critical assessments of the potential utility of this approach.  

I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I do.

IMPORTANT NOTICES and Acknowledgements: I want to draw your attention to several significant changes in how we process submissions and reviews for the JRA.

  1. As discussed in prior issues, as reflected on our webpage, there has been a significant advancement in the infrastructure of JRA to facilitate and enhance the  Journal's operation. JRA has “gone live” in its move to using ScholarOne software to aid in submitting, reviewing, and managing manuscripts.  This will lead to a significant increase in efficiency, speed of review, and ease of communication. The information necessary to use this system, including the process for creating an account to sign in, is available at 
    https://www.srainternational.org/resources/journal/become-a-journal-author.  
  2. With the implementation of the Scholar One system, updated author guidelines have also taken effect. Please refer to the JRA webpage 
    https://www.srainternational.org/resources/journal/become-a-journal-author to ensure you are using the guidelines in effect if you are submitting a manuscript or intending to do so in the future. 

As the current Editor-in-Chief of JRA, I want to thank all those who have contributed their hard work and dedication to the success of JRA over the more than 50 years of its growth. This group includes those who have previously served in the editor’s role, deputy and associate editors, and the SRAI Communication Committee members. The Editorial Board members are essential partners in ensuring that the manuscripts that appear in the Journal are exceptional and that they make valuable contributions to the work of our readers and the field of research administration more broadly. They put in countless hours for no compensation beyond the significant demands of their formal roles in their home institutions. JRA would only be able to operate at the level of quality it does and continue to grow because of the invaluable work of the SRAI staff. Gina Snyder is critical to our success as she works with me, reviewers, and authors, always quickly, thoughtfully, and with kindness. She merits special recognition and thanks. As I have noted many times, she ensures the production of the Journal meets the highest professional standards. I want to thank our Deputy Editor Holly Zink for her hard work and support as well as her oversight of the Author Fellowship Committee.  The Author Fellow Advisors provide essential guidance to the Author Fellows as they develop and publish their first scholarly articles. To learn more about the Author Fellowship program, please visit https://www.srainternational.org/resources/journal/author-fellowship

As always I also want to thank our authors for sending us their excellent contributions that continue to add to the growth of the knowledge base in the research administration field and enable us to present you with another exceptional issue of JRA.  JRA would not exist without your contributions.

As Editor-in-Chief of JRA, I am grateful and honored to have the opportunity to receive and read the incredibly diverse and exciting submissions we receive. Please email me directly with any input, questions, or suggestions you may have. 

Lastly, as always, if you are a non-SRAI member and wish to have the Journal delivered via email, please sign up through the online system at https://member.srainternational.org/account/login.aspx

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