RESEARCH GUIDELINES - Ucc
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
RESEARCH GUIDELINES
The University of Cape Coast (UCC), in partnering with the World Bank under the new Africa Centre of Excellence (ACE III) Impact Project, will promote coastal resilience within the West and Central African sub-regions. The objective of ACECoR is to support the development of technical and scientific capacity of young African professionals to develop integrated solutions to address coastal degradation in the countries of intervention through short– to long-term professional and academic training programmes. ACECoR will carry out education, research and outreach programmes. These programmes will be implemented in collaboration with other academic institutions and industries within the country, sub-region and at the global level to ensure a multi- and interdisciplinary approach to addressing coastal degradation across the sub-region
Welcome message from the
Director of ACECoR
Our vision
To be a global centre of excellence in coastal resilience
through collaboration with industry, private and public
institutions.
Our mission
To achieve sustainable management and use of coastal
environment through training of human resource,
Prof. Denis Worlanyo Aheto and demand-driven research to support coastal policy
Director, Centre for Coastal development in Africa.
Management - Africa Centre
of Excellence in Coastal
Resilience (ACECoR) Our aims
ACECoR aims at achieving excellence in training both
Welcome to ACECoR. As students and professionals in selected areas as a way
a research candidate you of enhancing coastal resilience and promoting policies
are a part of the wider
through;
research community
and an important part Training Professionals
of the University of Learning Environment
Cape Coast’s strategic
Human Resource Capacity
goal to continuously
invest in developing
Industry Sector Partnerships
human capacity for the
accelerated development
of Africa through We are committed to building a youthful
innovation, research workforce to drive Africa’s emerging blue
and partnerships.
economy through research and innovation.
Visit https://acecor.ucc.edu.gh
4
RESEARCH
GUIDELINES
1. Background 2. Research Scope
The Africa Centre of Excellence The main aim of ACECoR’s
in Coastal Resilience (ACECoR) of research activities is to generate
the University of Cape Coast is a data that will address coastal
World Bank sponsored project degradation in West and
to train 120 or more students Central Africa. It is also to
at the Masters and PhD levels. imbue resilience among coastal
In the University of Cape Coast, communities in the sub-region.
the project is liaising with Considering the complex and
various departments including multifaceted nature of coastal
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, degradation issues, all research
Economics, Environmental activities have been grouped
Science and others to train under five main thematic areas.
the students. The academic These thematic areas are:
training involves courses in the
» Coastal Geomorphology
academic areas of Integrated
and Engineering,
Coastal Zone Management,
Fisheries, Oceanography and » Climate Change Adaptation
other related programmes and Mitigation,
as well as research in various » Blue economy, Governance
thematic areas. Research in and Social Resilience,
ACECoR project is grouped » Disaster and Risk
into five thematic areas and Management and
students’ research activities » Ecosystems and Biodiversity.
are to be aligned with the
thematic areas. This research All research activities under
guideline presents the overall ACECoR whether students’
expectations regarding the project, research consultancy
conduct of students and faculty to the centre and/or individual
members on research under research activities to be
ACECoR. The guideline seeks sponsored by the project have to
to ensure that research and be aligned to the five thematic
thesis supervision activities areas. Also, all ACECoR’s
under ACECoR are conducted collaborative activities must
in line with the highest be in line with the thematic
professional standards in order areas. Research projects that
to deliver a holistic training cut across thematic area
to students as well as ensure boundaries are encouraged
quality research at the centre. to promote resilience
in all spheres of coastal
management in West Africa.
5
3. Research Organisation (iii) Approval of Research Occupational Health and Safety
Proposal including Budget with specific emphasis on:
The Centre for Coastal » Right to know about workplace
Management (CCM) which After the proposal presentation,
hazards and controls;
hosts the ACECoR project is students are required to
committed to ensuring that submit corrected version of » Right to participate in
a suitable environment that their proposal to the Academic decisions about their personal
promotes academic and Coordinator who will organize a health and safety; and
professional success for all meeting for all senior members » Right to refuse unsafe work.
research staff is observed. The on ACECoR to discuss and » Emergency procedures;
Centre therefore endeavours approve the research budgets.
» Health and safety policies;
to create an atmosphere of Upon approval of proposals
and budgets, students and » Accident, incident and
mutual respect, trust, fairness
their supervisors will be occupational disease
and collegiality for its students,
formally notified to commence reporting procedures;
trainees and staff. Research
activities by Senior Members fieldwork subject to acquisition » Hazards/unsafe conditions
on ACECoR project are of ethical clearance. reporting procedures;
guided by the CCM’s Project » Instruction on safe work
Management Policy. Students, (iv) Ethical Clearance practices and procedures
interns and postdoctoral required to work safely in the
fellows’ research activities All planned research by students, laboratory, work area, facility,
shall however be governed postdoctoral fellows and or field research placement;
by the following guidelines: interns must consider ethical » Description of existing hazards
clearance from the University and what controls are in place
(i) Assigning of supervisors of Cape Coast Institutional » Personal protective
Review Board (UCC-IRB) equipment required
All students, interns, postdoctoral before commencement of performing work safely; and
fellows and other non-faculty research. Ethical clearance
» Safety and survival techniques
members conducting research for involvement of human or
in aquatic environments.
with the Centre shall be assigned animal subjects should be
specific supervisors who are obtained for fieldwork, pilot
studies and/or laboratory work. (vi) Data collection, processing,
faculty members. Masters and
Collaborative research projects storage and retention
PhD students shall be assigned
two supervisors each, one being involving other universities or
research institutions will often The commitment of both
the Principal Supervisor and the
require the ethical clearance of the University of Cape Coast
other being the Co-Supervisor
all participating institutions and research policy and the ACECoR
in line with guidelines of the
can be quite time consuming, so research guidelines are to
School of Graduate Studies -
students must start application protect both the researcher and
UCC. Duties and responsibilities
on time. Please ensure you the institution with measures
of supervisors are outlined in
allow enough time to make devised to tackle compliance
Section 4 of this guideline.
the appropriate applications, as requirements and to disperse
approval from one institution some of the burden related
(ii) Presentation of with data management. All
does not automatically give
Research Proposal data produced by students,
you ethical clearance from the
other participating institutions. postdoctoral fellows, interns and
Graduate students on ACECoR staff with funding support from
Ethical Clearance forms can be
project shall be required to give ACECoR and its collaborators are
obtained from the Directorate
a presentation of their thesis/ primarily owned by the ACECoR.
of Research, Innovation and
dissertation proposals during Therefore, the students are
Consultancy (DRIC), UCC.
a seminar to faculty members mandated to release or make
who shall critique and provide available their obtained data
feedback on the presentation. (v) Field and Laboratory to ACECoR. These data will be
The presentation forms part Safety Orientation stored, managed and protected
of Seminars registered by the by the Data Hub and Information
students as a course, and shall All faculty, staff, postdoctoral Systems Unit of ACECoR, and
be scored and graded. Students fellows, students, interns and the Unit will provide modalities
must pass with a minimum visitors working, studying, for submission of the data. For
mark of 60% before the proposal conducting, and supporting purposes other than writing
is approved for commencement research in field and laboratory of their thesis, such data could
of the research work. at ACECoR shall be provided be used by the students only
with field and laboratory safety upon consultation with their
orientation seminar that includes
6
supervisors and should promote 4. Supervision 5. Publication
the interest of ACECoR.
ACECoR is committed to
(i) Technical Reports,
(vii) Confidentiality fostering an environment
Conference posters,
that promotes academic and
Newsletters and other briefs
Researchers have a duty professional success for all
to assure their research research personnel (students
All technical reports, poster
participants of confidentiality and Supervisors). The
presentations for conferences,
and all risks associated with their intricacy of modern scientific
newsletters, briefs and
involvement in the research. methods, the need for careful
other such publications
In order to ensure that risks experimental design and the
emanating from:
are appropriately reduced precautions one must take in
and alleviated, researchers data analysis, all require that the » ACECoR
are required to submit their Supervisor assume an active role » staff, students and other
proposals and protocols to in guidance and supervision. affiliates of ACECoR who produce
the Institutional Review Board such publications for ACECoR
of UCC for critical review. The following shall be the or with funding from ACECoR
duties and responsibilities » any other individual, group or
governing the operations of cooperate entities who produce
(viii) Quarterly Reporting the supervisors on the ACECoR such publications for ACECoR
project in addition to the or with funding from ACECoR
A research plan shall be responsibilities outlined by
developed at the begining the Graduate School of UCC: should follow the provision on
of each research study and
1. Supervisors shall help authorship in Section 5iii as
students must give their
their students to develop well as the acknowledgement
progress report every quarter.
sound research practices, and disclaimer in Section 5v
The quarterly report must
technical expertise and also of this guideline. The logos
outline the extent of work done
good research ethics. of University of Cape Coast,
in that period with consent from
ACECoR, the World Bank, and
the supervisors following the 2. Supervisors shall support any other institution(s) required
format in the approved research students to develop suitable to be acknowledged should
plan template. The quarterly research plan covering the be placed at the appropriate
reporting form is made available entire period of the student’s areas of the publication. The
on the ACECoR website. Section research and ensure that as placement of logos should follow
7 of the quarterly research much as possible, students branding rules of the World
reporting form provides details follow the research plan. Bank, ACECoR and UCC and
on the documents that must 3. Supervisors should have should be done with the support
accompany the progress report. realistic expectations regarding of the Communications Office of
the performance of students ACECoR to ensure compliance
(ix) Clearance for transport and should inform them and conformity with the rules.
of samples across borders of these expectations.
4. Supervisors shall work with (ii) Articles in peer
The packaging and their students to develop, present reviewed journals
transportation of biological and have their thesis/dissertation
materials across borders proposals approved for research. Articles for peer reviewed
are subjected to strict local 5. During the research years, journals including conference
customs and other international they shall have quarterly proceedings authored by
regulatory protocols. meetings with the students students, staff, researchers
Researchers who intend and together with the student and faculty of ACECoR should
transporting samples across produce a quarterly research follow the provisions on
international borders should report to ACECoR project authorship in Section 5iii,
inform the Applied Research management team. affiliation in Section 5iv as well
Coordinator of ACECoR in
6. They shall be keenly as the acknowledgement and
writing for necessary support
involved in the field research disclaimer in Section 5v of this
in acquiring required permits.
activities of the students and guidelines. The category of
make sure authentic data journals for publication of studies
is collected for analysis. carried out under ACECoR are
7. Supervisors shall essentially the journals indexed by Scopus,
mentor the graduate students Web of Science, Science Citation
under their supervision. Index (SCI), SCI-Expanded and
Social Science Citation Index.
Students are required to publish
7
their first papers in the category covers the following: secondary affiliation. Associate
of journals indexed by the the faculty of ACECoR (i.e. Faculty
» Conceptualization
abstracting services listed. The from other Universities than
second papers, however, are » Methodology UCC) are also mandated to use
required to be published in the » Software ACECoR as their secondary
Journal of Fisheries and Coastal » Validation affiliation on research papers
Management (JFCoM) published funded through ACECoR.
» Formal analysis
by the Department of Fisheries Students and staff whose
and Aquatic Sciences and the » Investigation institution of affiliation at the
Centre for Coastal Management » Resources time of publishing their papers
of the University of Cape Coast. » Data Curation is not ACECoR but received
Any subsequent papers may » Writing - Original Draft funding from the Centre for the
be published in the prescribed research being published at
journals or JFCoM subject to » Writing - Review & Editing the time of their engagement
the descretion of the author(s). » Visualization at ACECoR as students or
The Centre will annually provide » Supervision staff should provide ACECoR
updates on the category of » Project administration as their previous affiliation.
journals for publication.
» Funding acquisition
(v) Acknowledgement
(iii) Authorship All authors must take of source(s) of funding
responsibility for the and Disclaimer
Authorship should be based on content of their paper.
intellectual contributions to the All publications funded by
conception, design, collection (iv) Affiliation of authors ACECoR or through ACECoR
of data, analysis, writing of the should duly and appropriately
research, and other significant All publications authored by acknowledge the project, the
contributions. To provide students, staff, researchers World Bank and any other
clarity on consideration and and faculty of ACECoR must source(s) of funding as follows:
qualification for authorship, have ACECoR as their primary
the Centre has temporarily affiliation, except faculty from The authors are grateful for
adopted the CRediT (Contributor other Departments in UCC funding for this research from
Roles Taxonomy) guidelines working at ACECoR who may the World Bank through the
provided by Elsevier which wish to use ACECoR as their Africa Centre of Excellence in
8
Coastal Resilience (ACECoR) 7. Other Research the course or thesis. To avoid
Project [Credit No.: 6389- Ethical Considerations the incidence of plagiarism,
GH] implemented by the student theses and manuscripts
University of Cape Coast’s Claiming to have carried out are verified through plagiarism
Centre for Coastal Management. experiments, observations, software (Turnitin) to ensure they
In addition, appropriate interviews or any sort of research, conform to ethical standards
disclaimer(s) should also be which actually have not been before submission. Students
issued. A format or template undertaken or claiming to are required to ensure that they
for Acknowledgement of have results, which have not have checked their write-ups for
the project and Disclaimer been obtained, are considered plagiarism before submission.
will be provided for use. serious academic offences. In
academic and professional
6. Intellectual Property writing, it is very important to
provide evidence for your claims
This section is provided in by citing your sources. Copying
accordance with the University of another person’s work and/or
Cape Coast Intellectual Property making substantial use of other
Policy. Any Intellectual Property people’s work and submitting
(IP) that results from this project it as one’s own without
or from activities carried out by proper acknowledgement is
student(s) and staff as part of academically unacceptable
this project shall primarily reside and considered a serious and
with the University of Cape punishable offence. Re-wording
Coast. In circumstances where another person’s work and
there may be joint ownership presenting it as your own,
or multi-party ownership quoting from someone else’s
between the UCC and the work, copying from the work of
other institution(s), a written another person, using another
agreement will be prepared person’s ideas or data, and
and signed. The decision to copies from your own previous
have a joint ownership of an work without acknowledging
IP shall be determined by the source are all considered
ACECoR on the grounds of the serious issues of plagiarism as
merits of contribution of the pointed out in the SGS-UCC
student or staff, and/or any policies and regulations.
institution towards the IP.
The penalty for fabrication of
data and plagiarism shall be
the cancellation of the result for
FURTHER INFORMATION acecor.ucc.edu.gh
You can also read
