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Malay Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
CUHK Faculty of Law: Pioneering Legal Education with Global Impact and Research Excellence
Distinguished Academic Excellence Innovative Programme Portfolio Research Impact and Global Collaboration Nurturing Global Legal Talent Tajra's postgraduate student life at CUHK has been remarkable: (left) participating in summer school in Genova, (centre) graduating with a Master of Laws in International Economic Law, and (right) having a summer internship at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Professor Anatole Boute's research has greatly contributed to the energy market regulation in Central Asia HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 30 May 2025 - The Chinese University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Law ( CUHK LAW ) continues to strengthen its position as a leading international legal education institution, offering innovative programmes and conducting impactful research that shapes the future of legal practice across Asia and its establishment in 2004, CUHK LAW has emerged as a truly international faculty, with academic staff from over 20 jurisdictions. The Faculty's research excellence has been consistently recognised, leading Hong Kong's law domain in the UGC's Research Assessment Exercises of 2014 and 2020. Its global standing was further cemented in the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025, achieving the 48position Faculty offers a comprehensive range of postgraduate programmes, including the specialised Master of Laws (LLM) degrees that respond to evolving global legal challenges. The LLM in Energy and Environmental Law (LEL), launched in 2018-2019, stands as Hong Kong's pioneer programme in energy security and sustainability law. The newest addition, the LLM in Legal History (LLH), introduced in 2022-2023, represents as one of the few global programmes dedicated to transnational legal history Faculty's commitment to research excellence is exemplified through its specialised research centres. The Centre for Comparative and Transnational Law (CCTL) supports collaborative research through eight specialised clusters, while the Centre for Legal Innovation and Digital Society (CLINDS) drives innovative research in law and Faculty's global reach extends to prestigious partnerships, including dual programmes with The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London, offering students the opportunity to earn two degrees from world-class institutions in four Faculty's international outlook is reflected in its diverse student body, representing over 60 countries and regions. It also offers students valuable opportunities and resources to collaborate with scholars across various fields, deepening their understanding and opening new avenues for their work. PhD candidate Tajra Smajic, a Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) awardee from Bosnia and Herzegovina, expressed her appreciation for her experience at CUHK Faculty of Law: "CUHK's dynamic research environment and HKPFS support have enriched my academic journey immensely. The programme enables global engagement through international conferences and summer schools, fostering valuable professional connections." Tajra is currently interning at the United Nations Legal Office, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS), applying her knowledge in real-world experts like Professor Anatole Boute continue to shape global legal discourse. Professor Boute, specialising in energy, environmental, and investment law, received the prestigious Richard Macrory Prize for Best Article 2021 from the Journal of Environmental Law, Oxford University Press. His research has provided national energy authorities evidence-based suggestions which contributed to shape better energy market regulation in Central Asia while improving the cost of clean energy ahead, CUHK LAW remains committed to advancing legal education and research while fostering global partnerships that prepare the next generation of legal professionals for an increasingly interconnected more information about CUHK LAW's postgraduate programmes, visit: Hashtag: #CUHK The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About CUHK Founded in 1963, CUHK combines tradition with innovation in teaching and research, maintaining strong global partnerships to address real-world challenges.
Malay Mail
08-05-2025
- Science
- Malay Mail
From ‘publish or perish' to ‘be visible or vanish': What's next? — Mohammad Tariqur Rahman
MAY 8 — Amidst the dictum 'publish or perish,' a new vibe has emerged in academia: 'be visible or vanish'. The new dictum is introduced in the book 'Engage, Influence and Ensure Your Research Has Impact' by Inger Mewburn and Simon Clews in 2023. The survival of academics in their profession is largely dependent upon the number of papers they publish. An increasing number of papers in their bags adds credit to their reputation. To have a higher prestige, the number of papers alone does not suffice. Papers need to be published in journals with high impact factors. Arguably, the race to increase the number of papers resulted in a number of scientific misconducts, namely, but not limited to, the unethical practice in authorship assignments e.g., guest and honorary authorship; emergence of paper mills; and publishing unauthenticated or manipulated results. The trend of scientific misconduct has been condemned, yet no practical measures have been taken either to control or to decrease it. Rather, the increasing number of retracted papers every year attest the ongoing 'pandemic' of scientific misconduct. Will the new dictum 'be visible or vanish' then add to the pandemic? Visibility in academia is generally measured by the number of citations received by the papers of an academic. Indeed, the number of citations increases with the number of publications. However, some may have more citations than others, with less papers. Nevertheless, researching a popular topic increases the chance of higher citations. Self-citation, i.e., when authors cite their own papers, can be monitored by most of the bibliometric databases such as Scopus or Web of Science. However, the practice of self-citation is not acceptable when the authors cite their own papers, especially if they are not relevant and important. Using Scopus records, a PLOS One paper in December 2023 identified Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Ukraine among the top anomalous self-citing countries (i.e., academics from those countries) in the world. Citing existing literature is an academic norm that reflects the relevance of new research findings, i.e., portrays its rationality, validity, and importance in academic publications. Furthermore, the number of citations provides the impact (and popularity) of the published paper. Albeit, while the 'number' of citations provides the visa for visibility of the paper among the global audience, it does not necessarily represent the paper's importance. For example, one of the most cited papers (>305,000 in 2014) in the history of academia goes to a paper describing how to quantify proteins in a solution. Even one of the most groundbreaking publications in the field of life science, i.e., the DNA sequencing method (>65000 in 2014) that claimed the Nobel prize and led to complete human genome sequencing, did not have any match to the citation of the protein quantification paper. Needless to say, a large number of research publications remain behind the curtain without being cited. Former Harvard president Derek Bok, in his book 'Higher Education in America' (published in 2015) noted that a majority of articles published in the arts and humanities (98 per cent) and social sciences (75 per cent) are never cited by another researcher. The current trend is not expected to be very different from this. A researcher might be interested (or find it important) to research a very rare disease affecting less than 0.1 per cent of the global population. Compared to cancer research, research on such a rare disease will have very low citations. — File pic That brings an imperative question to answer, does a low (or no) citation make a research less (or not) useful? Say, a researcher might be interested (or find it important) to research a very rare disease affecting less than 0.1 per cent of the global population. Compared to cancer research, research on such a rare disease will have very low citations. Again, receiving a high number of citations will be unlikely for a research publication addressing a national issue than a global issue. Those two examples suffice to endorse that the number of citations would fail to reflect the importance of research publications. Rather, it would be wrong if citation is used as a measure to evaluate the impact of such research publications. Going back to the clock, one will find that the dictum 'publish or perish' in academia was introduced in 1942 in Logan Wilson's book, "The Academic Man: A Study in the Sociology of a Profession" - says Eugene Garfield, the founder of Institute for Scientific Information's (ISI). Then, the measurement of journal Impact Factor (IF) was introduced in 1975 by Eugene Garfield as part of the Journal Citation Reports. Eventually, academics were motivated (read forced) not only to publish more and more papers but also to publish their papers in higher-ranking journals measured by higher IF. Eventually, having a higher number of papers and publishing in the 'high' ranking journals became the requirements in academia for appointment, promotion, and even grant approval. Now, in less than 100 years, academia is experiencing a new survival dictum — be visible or vanish. Amidst the logical criticism, academic policy makers will continue to impose the new dictum for appointment, promotion, and even approval. I wonder if the 'inventors' of new knowledge, i.e., academics at universities, know what is next? Prof Mohammad is the Deputy Executive Director (Development, Research & Innovation) at International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA), Universiti Malaya, and can be reached at [email protected] • This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
