Text and photos by Hazel P. Villa
Director of WVSU Public Affairs, Marketing and Communications Office
With a prolific portfolio boasting over 350 scientific articles, books, book chapters, and reports, a distinguished global health scientist, renowned for advancing science and research in the developing world, has expressed genuine admiration for the commendable research work conducted at West Visayas State University (WVSU).
Dr. Don Eliseo Prisno made this pronouncement when he spoke at the recent WVSU Workshop on World University Rankings and Research Publication organized by the University Research and Development Center last Nov. 10-11, 2023.
“All data points show that WVSU should be a top university of the country. I have dissected and identified all the different data points; and they all lead to one conclusion–that all metrics lead to a high university rank,” said Dr. Prisno, editor-in-chief of Public Health Challenges of Wiley, and deputy editor-in-chief of BMC Global Health Research and Policy, a Quartile 1 journal with an Impact Factor of 8.7.
Dr. Prisno noted the following indicators that he said makes WVSU’s efforts impressive: Webometrics ranks it at number 17 in the country, it has one of the top scientists of the PH based on Scopus, has a substantial number of Scopus papers (and even much higher in number than the top universities of the country), has many AD Scientific Index and Google scholar-listed scientists with several citations, “and so many indicators that the University should be on the same level as the top universities of the Philippines”.
Asked by the workshop participants on how WVSU should capitalize on its strengths, Dr. Prisno said, “The researchers of WVSU should focus on publishing with Scopus journals. There should be a scale up of these publications. The University and its researchers should promote its researches through conferences and other presentations. There should be a substantial increase in research grants. The students should be encouraged to publish. And lastly, the university journals need to be strengthened.”
Dr. Prisno, who has a PhD in Global Health from Cardiff University, has supported governments and universities worldwide in enhancing health research capacities during his extensive travels to 150 countries and territories for scientific work and as a frequent international speaker and consultant.