The founder Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab American University, Dr. Yousef Asfour, the University President, Prof. Dr. Ali Zedan Abu Zuhri, and the Dean of Scientific Research, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Awad, honored the distinguished researchers who published research papers in reputable scientific journals within the Scopus and Clarivate indexing.In addition, the teaching staff who have received academic promotions for the titles of professor and associate professor were honored.
This took place in a ceremony, under the auspices of the Founder Chairman of the University Board of Directors, Dr. Yousef Asfour, organized by the Deanship of Scientific Research at the University Campus in Jenin, with the presence of the University Vice-Presidents, assistants, deans of faculties, heads of departments, directors of administrative offices, and members of the academic and administrative staff.
In his welcoming speech, the Dean of Scientific Research, Prof. Dr. Mohammed Awad, said, “Since the inception of the Arab American University, scientific research has been one of the goals of excellence and creativity that the university has always sought.” He Pointed out that the Deanship of Scientific Research was established with the aim of encouraging creative scientific energies and talents, and discovering them among the academic staff and university students, explaining that the deanship has been striving since its inception to develop scientific research at the University through rewards for research published in reputable, highly indexed international journals such as Clarivate and Scopus.
Prof. Dr. Awad added, "The Arab American University is distinguished by publishing rewards in quantity and quality compared to other Palestinian universities, where the development appeared in the publication of scientific research in quantity and quality in journals classified within Clarivate and Scopus by publishing 195 research papers in 2022 and publishing 145 research papers in 2021 compared to 105 research papers in 2020.” He stressed that AAUP is moving steadily towards reaching quantity and quality in scientific research as well as advancing its applied level.
Prof. Dr. Awad announced that the Journal of the Arab American University ranked second in the Arab Impact Factor database for the fourth year in a row, with an impact factor of 3.51 among 500 journals in the Arab world.
For his part, the University President, Prof. Dr. Ali Zedan Abu Zuhri, stressed in his speech that AAUP has always worked on developing three main aspects; the academic aspect, scientific research and community service. He indicated that scientific research is an essential aspect in the development of scientific capabilities at the university as it would raise the university's reputation in scientific forums locally, regionally and internationally. Dr. Abu Zuhri stressed that the University's goal, through scientific research, is to stay among the most highly ranking universities at global level, and be a research destination. This requires publishing at least 200 research papers annually for 5 consecutive years in Clarivate and Scopus indexed journals, he added.
The University president explained that the university paid great attention to scientific research and allocated great budgets for the advancement and excellence in scientific research, as excellence in scientific research awards are awarded annually at the level of the country’s universities distributed into three categories. He also indicated that it is clear that there is a development in the university’s annual progress in research achievements, as the number of research papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals with a high impact factor has increased significantly in the past four years, explaining that the Scientific Research Ethics Committee was established to serve researchers and postgraduate students to help them publish their research papers in specialized international scientific journals.
Prof. Dr. Abu Zuhri explained that this honoring is a token of appreciation by the University administration and the board of directors for the essential and distinguished role of the researchers who raised the name of the University high in the fields of scientific research, as they have put their names and the name of their University in the most prestigious, distinguished scientific journals.
In turn, the Founder Chairman of the University Board of Directors, Dr. Yousef Asfour, congratulated the distinguished researchers and faculty members who were promoted to Professor and Associate Professor saying “I am delighted to be among you to celebrate a new achievement for the faculty members added to the achievements of the University. We celebrate honoring a group of researchers who added knowledge and pride to the University. Dr. Asfour congratulated the staff members for their achievements and congratulated the University on having such a distinguished academic staff.
Dr. Asfour added, "The University, since its first day, has set its sights on encouraging scientific research and providing support in all its forms to encourage researchers in all fields. The University has believed that of scientific research aims to be a distinguished service to the country as well as a means of transferring knowledge to students and the internal University community."
Dr. Asfour continued, "The achievements in scientific research by your colleagues and you have contributed mainly to strengthening the University's position in the local and regional rankings, and we can see this ranking improving year by year. This is all because of you and your colleagues and this improvement will continue until we achieve our aspirations."
He expressed his happiness that those who are being honored today were students sitting in AAUP learning seats.
The ceremony was concluded by honoring the distinguished researchers and faculty members who received academic promotions.
