Guidelines for assessment of publications for contribution to scholarship: a view point.
BACKGROUND
There does not seem to be a uniform method of assessment for promotion in the various tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The result of this is that a professor in one institution may just qualify to be a senior lecturer in another in the same country. An attempt is being made in this write-up to devise a method of standardization for promotion in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.


METHODS
Literature dealing with peer review process, writing clinical research papers, and assessment were reviewed. Also various methods of assessment for promotion in some tertiary institutions were studied.


RESULTS
There are six areas of assessment of the publications of a candidate for academic promotion. They are (a) the quality of the journal where the article were published; (b) the type of research; (c) the scientific quality of the paper; (d) the relevance of the paper to the author's discipline; (e) the numerical position of the authorship of the candidate being assessed; (f) and the number of publications.


CONCLUSIONS
Having a clear-cut and more objective way of grading a prospective candidate will ensure uniformity, allow the candidate to work realistically towards a goal and to aim high, reduce subjective assessment, reduce the chances of injustice, and encourage non-indexed local journals to aspire to get indexed or die a natural death.
Ajao
O G
OG
The College of Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan.
Lawoyin
T O
TO
D015706:Bibliometrics; D002322:Career Mobility; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships / Q000592:standards*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009549:Nigeria; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D014495:Universities / Q000592:standards*