Quality, Quantity and Impact in Engineering Research: Case Study of a Non-Doctoral University in the Arab World

Academics aim to increase their impact in their field by increasing the quantity and quality of their publications. However, the researchers’ productivity may be affected by the ranking and the location of the research institution they are involved in. The case of universities in the Arab world is not studied previously especially for non-doctoral institutions. Universities in developing countries have limited funding and hence a relatively low research output. This work investigates the associations between quality, quantity and impact of research in the field of Engineering for faculty members in a non-doctoral university in the Arab world. Results show that the Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) is more correlated with quality than quantity of publications while the h-index is more correlated with quantity than quality. Also, a positive correlation is reported between the quantity and quality of publications for the Engineering field. Finally, faculty members with a higher credit-load have relatively lower quality of publications.