Verlumun is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal which is a Scopus-indexed one.

Speaking with journalists in an online chat, he said the special edition of the journal is titled, “Digital Media and Research in 21st Century Society: Assessing Current Trends and Projecting the Future.”

The letter conveying the award of the grant was signed by Dr Esther Laufer, the Director of Centre for Advanced  Internet Studies, CAIS, Bochum, Germany.

“The grant is awarded by the Centre for Advanced Internet Studies, Bochum, Germany. The grant’s monetary value is € 3,580, which covers editing, printing, archiving, promotions, and distribution. The money will not be released to me. Instead, I will have to deliver on the publication and ask for a reimbursement. I consider the special issue theme important because digital media and modern technologies have continued to play huge roles in influencing different aspects of contemporary society.

Research has also been significantly influenced by the powerful waves of Internet-powered media.

“Aspects of research like data collection, literature review, data analysis and intervention delivery, among others, have significantly changed over the past decades.  This special  issue  of Ianna Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies  is aimed at understanding how digital media and new technologies have changed the dynamics of research. The specific areas of interest are:

Artificial intelligence and research in contemporary society; software and data analysis in contemporary society; digital media and intervention delivery; digital media and data collection; digital media and research communicating research findings and digital media and research integrity, ” he said.

Verlumun has been ranked as Nigeria’s number one communication scholar based on his publications in Scopus Scival author ranking of the top 500 scholars in Nigeria.

He has maintained that position for the 2019-2022 and 2020-2023 ranking years. Scival is a research analytics tool from Elsevier that measures the metrics gathered from the Scopus dataset.

He advised academics not wait until when they need to publish for reasons such as getting promotion at their places of work before publishing in reputable journals.

He added that Ianna Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies would provide a leverage for them to express themselves and for the whole world to appreciate their contributions to knowledge.

He also charged the government and owners of tertiary institutions to encourage academics to engage in research and publication of their findings.

He commended the recent action of Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, ABUAD, who rewarded lecturers in his school who made some publications by giving them over N12 million.

“Babalola also promised a car gift for anyone who emerges the university’s top researcher. This is inspiring and that is what school owners should aim at. Ranking of universities depend on a number of factors of which number of publications is one. In Nigeria today, publication in journals that are indexed in Scopus is an achievement that is celebrated. It is also a requirement for promotion from one rank to another.”

Source: Vanguard