Health Sciences Faculty Research Committee  

INVITATION TO APPLY FOR

POSTGRADUATE PUBLICATION INCENTIVE (PPI) FUNDING

Submission deadline: 31 August 2020

The Faculty of Health Sciences has increased research productivity as one of its major goals. We know that many papers published from the Faculty have their origins in postgraduate dissertations/theses, and therefore strongly encourage students (and their supervisors) to view publication in peer-reviewed journals as an integral part of the design and work schedule for completing higher degrees. We are also aware that many potential papers embedded within dissertations/theses never get published, usually because the student leaves UCT before converting the dissertation/thesis into publishable manuscripts.

In an attempt to alleviate this problem the Faculty Research Committee (FRC) has committed a budget to a Postgraduate Publication Incentive (PPI) to assist needy Faculty of Health Sciences postgraduates to prepare dissertation/thesis work for publication before they leave UCT. This letter invites supervisors to apply for funding from this scheme on behalf of their graduating students.

How the PPI scheme works:

• The intention of the PPI awards is to allow postgraduates who are registered in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and who have recently submitted or are about to submit their dissertation/thesis, to prepare their dissertation/thesis work for submission to ISI accredited journals, specifically where this would not be possible without additional financial support. Students who are not registered in the Faculty of Health Sciences, but are registered for a degree that has a Health Sciences Faculty Departmental Course Code, also qualify for this funding.
• Calls for application will be issued twice a year (June and September).
• Applications for funding must be made by the supervisor, who must clearly explain what paper(s) will be generated and for which target journals. Clear motivation must also be supplied as to why additional time is needed to prepare such papers (i.e. why the existing chapters need to be substantially changed before being suitable for submission). If funding is awarded, the supervisor will be required to complete a short report, on an annual basis, of the papers submitted as a consequence of the PPI funding. The record of success or failure will then be taken into account when evaluating future PPI applications.
• Awards will be made by a small subcommittee of the FRC.
• Awards will be made on a competitive basis; the main criteria being the probability of success of publication in ISI accredited journals and identification of financial need.
• The amount of the award is limited to R 5000 per month for PhD students and the normal period of support will be one month, since the work involved will be largely reformatting dissertation/thesis material into a journal paper. In special circumstances, up to a maximum of two months will be considered, but this will require strong motivation; for example, if several papers are being written, or if additional work is required to submit a paper to a top international journal. Note that awards for Masters students may be considered depending on availability of funding.
• It is important to emphasize that this award is not intended to be a ‘reward’ to students for submitting already prepared papers, but should only be requested if the paper(s) need substantial reworking before publication and where this work requires financial support that the supervisor is unable to supply from existing resources.
• Students are required to sign a Memorandum of Agreement that should be submitted along with the original application (see attached template).  Funds will only be approved if we have received a hard copy of the MOA.  The supervisor is responsible for the administration of these funds, ensuring that students are paid and that manuscripts are submitted.

How payment is made:

• The University and Faculty policy is that, once a thesis/dissertation is submitted for examination, the educational work requirements of the degree have been met.  Any payment made to a student for work undertaken subsequent to submission must be made via the payroll system to conform to SARS regulations.  Consequently, PPI funding must be paid to the student via the payroll system and will not be paid as a tax-free bursary.
• All PPI awards have to be paid to students within 6 months of the date of announcement of the awards. If they are not, they will be automatically returned to the Faculty budget.

How to apply:

Applications should be submitted on the template provided on the next page.   Send completed applications and signed MOA to research.health@uct.ac.za