Elsevier and Thai Academic Consortium Collaborate to Boost Research Capabilities and Performance of 35 Local Universities Ahead of Thailand 4.0

BANGKOK, April 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Elsevier, the information analytics company specializing in science and health, today announced a three-year collaboration with the Thai-Journal Citation Index (TCI) Centre and Thailand Research Fund (TRF) to generate exposure, improve impact and increase collaboration opportunities for Thai research.

The collaboration aims to strengthen the research capabilities and academic performance of Thai higher education institutions in a concerted drive towards Thailand 4.0, a strategic national program to transition Thailand into a value-based economy over the long term.

"Improving Thai research visibility and impact have always been a key focus for TRF and this is especially critical for Thailand 4.0," said Professor Dr. Suthipun Jitpimolmard, Director of TRF. "To achieve this, we need to equip the Thai academic community and high-potential universities with world-class resources by collaborating closely with the world leader in scholarly information and analytics such as Elsevier. We are confident that this three-year development effort amongst TCI, TRF and Elsevier will yield tremendous growth prospects for Thailand in research output and impact."

The three-year collaboration program will include:

• Access to Elsevier's Scopus, the world's largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, for 35 selected Thai universities
• Promotion of Thai research focusing on the strategic research drivers of Thailand 4.0
• Specially-developed training and engagement opportunities for journal editors, researchers, policy makers, and librarians to harness value from their research workflow processes
• Proactive identification, engagement, selection and evaluation of 60 journals from Thailand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to be indexed in Scopus database

TRF has been supporting TCI activities since 2004 and, from 2010, co-funded access of Elsevier's Scopus database for TCI and Thai journal editors to improve Thailand's research quality and performance.

"We're pleased that our collaboration with TRF and Elsevier has resulted in a comprehensive program that's able to support the Thai scholarly community and the advancement of Thai research," said Professor Dr. Narongrit Sombatsompop, Head of TCI and Chairman of the ASEAN Citation Index (ACI) Steering Committee. "Such a program will bring great benefits to Thailand and ASEAN member countries, particularly in helping to develop a pool of professional editors with the required knowledge and expertise in managing high quality scientific journals comparable to high impact journals published by reputable international publishers."

"Elsevier is privileged to play a role in supporting the build out of Thailand's research excellence as the country transitions towards Thailand 4.0," said Dr. Nick Fowler, Chief Academic Officer and Managing Director of Research Networks at Elsevier. "Thailand notwithstanding, we're also committed to improving the research performance across the ASEAN region. Plans are underway to expand our collaboration with ACI for the proactive development of a regional social network for researchers to provide them global exposure, broaden their network and increase their collaboration opportunities with overseas peers, thereby improving knowledge sharing and, eventually, their research outcome and impact."

About the Thailand Research Fund (TRF)  

The Thailand Research Fund (TRF) was established in response to the 1992 Research Endowment Act and although it is part of the government system, it lies outside the government administrative bureaucracy. This freedom allows great efficiency in research support. Since its creation, TRF has remained focused on its main duty: supporting at both local and national levels the creation of a knowledge-base to help those tackling societal problems. TRF's main role is to assist in the development of researchers and research-based knowledge through making research grants and assisting with research management. TRF does not itself conduct any research.

For more information, please visit http://www.trf.or.th.

About the Thai-Journal Citation Index (TCI) Centre 

TCI is Thai-Journal Citation Index (TCI) Centre, serving as the database of academic papers published in Thai journals. TCI collects all the published articles, starting from 1991, together with their citations online and in real-time. The information contained in TCI can be searched through keywords, article titles, authors and author affiliations, and publication years. In addition, the TCI database is designed to calculate the journal impact factors automatically. TCI is run by staff from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) and Thammasart University. TCI has been financially supported since its establishment by The Thailand Research Fund (TRF) and The Commission of Higher Education (CHE), Minister of Education of Thailand.

About the ASEAN Citation Index (ACI) Centre 

ASEAN Citation Index (ACI) Centre has been officially established since 2013 to serve as the central regional database which indexes all bibliographic information and the citations of all research papers appeared in academic journals from 10 ASEAN members. The bibliographic and citation data in ACI database are unique as research articles in English and in all ASEAN local languages with English abstracts are indexed and freely accessible. However, non-ASEAN journals with Asian and ASEAN research interests can be acceptable for inclusion in the ACI. The ACI database is currently run by ACI Steering Committee which comprises of representatives from all ASEAN members. The ACI secretariat is currently located in KMUTT, Bangkok, Thailand. Importantly, having ACI as the central database would stimulate and encourage the knowledge sharing on how to improve the journal quality within ASEAN region. Furthermore, once the ACI is grown, in terms of its content, stability, and usage, it can be easily linked to other international databases.

About Elsevier 

Elsevier is a global information analytics company that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com

Media contact
Jason Chan
Director, Communications, Asia Pacific
+65-9177-8358
j.chan@elsevier.com