A cornerstone of scholarly publishing and vanguard to good science, peer review is the rigorous, meticulous, and scrupulous process involving the evaluation of research manuscript by experts in the respective fields; assessing the paper’s methodology, publishability, integrity, and contribution to the scientific community. Among scientific database and publishers, Scopus and Web of Science (ISI) require well-defined and robust standards for peer review for its fleet of indexed journals. Together, both Scopus and Web of Science (ISI) set the gold standard for peer reviewed-literature consequentially creating better journal brands for publishers, high-quality articles for authors, and impactful, valuable research for the scientific community. With a commitment to academic integrity, journal quality, and research novelty, how can one become an effective peer reviewer gauging the merits of articles based on these defined scholarly standards?

From topic ideation to research dissemination, the integration of pedagogy, smart technologies, and generative AI in the teaching of research represents a major paradigm shift in education. One of the important sub-set of artificial intelligence, Generative AI has been a game-changer in the field of education and research with its ability to generate data autonomously which include texts, images and even music with the use of machine and deep learning.

Capturing the richness of qualitative data and the generalizability of quantitative data, the exploratory sequential mixed methods research integrates qualitative and quantitative methods by leveraging their respective strengths to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of a research topic. A mixed methods research design that begins with an initial qualitative phase and followed through sequentially by a quantitative phase, how can researchers effectively employ the exploratory sequential mixed method research design to gain deeper understanding of complex research phenomena?

Article citations, author indices, and journal impact factors have become the quantitative metric in defining the quality of articles, reputation of authors, and reliability of journals. From the hiring, tenure, and promotion of professors, securing of research funding and grants, publishing in high-impact journals, indexing of journals in top databases to even determining the world’s top ranked universities, citations, h-indices, and journal impact factors have been used as an objective reference in most of academic and scientific decisions. In a research environment where evaluation have revolved around these quantitative measures, how can researchers and journal editors get their articles and journals cited?

A critical factor that spells the boon or bane of a student’s thesis/dissertation completion is the interplay between effective research teaching and competent research advising. Where research teachers provide students to a roadmap and blueprint of research processes and skills, thesis advisers guide the students in navigating the often challenging and treacherous research journey from research conceptualization to journal article publication. With emerging research methods, trends, and best practices, how can one become a research teacher and/or thesis adviser capable of leading students and advisees towards the completion and publication of their scholarly work?

Highlighting research publication as imperative in the recruitment, promotion and tenure of academics, the aphorism “Publish or Perish” shapes the culture of research as well as academic reputation of colleges and universities. In the last few decades, journals indexed in the Web of Science (ISI, now Clarivate Analytics) and Scopus Elsevier are considered to be the gold standard of publishing. With a tedious vetting process, low acceptance and high rejection rates, how can researchers prepare their research manuscripts for publication in journals indexed by ISI (Clarivate Analytics)/Scopus?

A mixed methods research design fit for researchers leaning towards quantitative research, the Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Research design consists of two distinct and sequential phases: an initial quantitative phase wherein quantitative data is collected and analyzed followed through by a qualitative phase which data explain the statistical results by exploring participants’ views thoroughly. The rationale for mixing and integrating the quantitative and qualitative methods is grounded in the fact that such emergent research design allows for a more robust analysis of a research problem; taking advantage of the strengths of each design. With growing attention to research methodologies such as the mixed methods research, how can one design a study which employs the strength of both qualitative and quantitative research specifically the Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Research design?

With transparent and reproducible methods, an excellent systematic review acts as the most reliable source of evidence in guiding researchers establish the state of existing knowledge. Systematic review uses scientific and explicit methods to identify, select, summarize and analyze findings of often similar but separate research studies. With an ever-increasing plethora of published studies, how can one make a high-quality systematic review as thesis/disseration which can be published in reputable journals?

An emergent research approach which employs the strength of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, the mixed methods research design provides student researchers a lens to explore diverse viewpoints and unveil relationships that exist between the intricate layers of complex research questions; providing a more panoramic view of the research landscape. Guiding research advisees to have better understanding on the connections and contradictions of quantitative and qualitative data, how can one become an effective research adviser for mixed methods research that ultimately results to publications in high-impact journals?

Serving as a vanguard of academic integrity, journal quality, and research novelty, the scholarly peer review is an indispensable process which serves as a cornerstone to good science. The peer review process assesses the quality, validity, originality, and integrity of a research manuscript prior to publication while also directing these quality articles to better quality journals consequentially creating better journal brands for publishers. Acting as both sentry to quality and ethical safeguard, how does one become an effective scholarly peer reviewer who protects the academia from publications with unwarranted claims, gross inaccuracies, and ethical concerns?

As an impetus for the digitalization of the teaching-learning process, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose unprecedented challenges to schools, colleges, universities, and educational institutions which require commensurate sustainable measures. Complicated by the largest disruptor of educational systems in history, an effective teacher understand the limitations imposed by such unique times while efficaciously navigating the 21st century pedagogy-technology nexus. Being able to amalgamate pedagogical expertise, technological adeptness, and experiential competence, how can a research teacher unlearn traditional, outdated modes of teaching and embrace technologically-inclined blended learning strategies that produce holistic learners with proficient research knowledge and skills in the new normal?

From research conceptualization to journal publication, the role of the thesis/dissertation mentor spells the success or failure of the mentees’ thesis and dissertation completion. Thesis mentors, together with their mentees, mold and define the quality, integrity, and research validity of the academic work by incorporating their academic expertise in research and the academia, exhibiting technological competence in navigating the technologies of research, and manisfesting disciplinal proficiency in hurdling the publication process. Turning the passive research advising to a more dynamic thesis/dissertation mentoring, how does one become an effective thesis/dissertation mentor of descriptive-inferential studies?

Perfect for researchers who to have a strong quantitative research background as well as qualitative research expertise, the convergent parallel mixed methods design collects the quantitative and qualitative data concurrently, analyzes the two components separately, and interprets the results simultaneously. With a growing attention to emergent research methodologies such as the mixed methods design, how can one employ the strength of both qualitative and quantitative research designs, specifically the convergent parallel kind?