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engineering, maritime, architecture, agriculture, environmental science, humanities,
and social sciences (Angeles 2009 , p. 8). It clearly shows that the direction of higher
education research is to conduct research that will boost the Philippine economy
and address the perennial problem of poverty. The focus of research is on disci-
plines that can contribute to the country’s growth and development such as the sci-
ences, information technology, agriculture, and environment.
In line with NHERA 2’s agendum of making higher education research competi-
tive and credible, the CHED prescribed a mechanism through which a national stan-
dard for peer review and journal refereeing system can be implemented uniformly
for all printed and online journals of researches published by Philippine colleges
and universities (Commission on Higher Education 2009a, b, 2012 ). This mecha-
nism is known as the Journal Accreditation Service (JAS) where colleges and uni-
versities submit their respective journals for accreditation. Journals that passed the
evaluation process are given corresponding CHED Journal Codes (CJC) to signify
compliance with the nationally accepted standards and practices of refereeing and
peer review.
Thirty-four research journals from colleges and universities were accredited by
the CHED in 2010. These research journals published articles in the field of medical
science, natural science, life science, veterinary medicine, agriculture, fisheries and
rice research, breeding and genetics, education, political science, social science,
history, humanities, business management, public administration and economics,
and ecosystem (Commission on Higher Education 2010a). It was followed by
accreditation of 11 research journals in 2014 that published articles in the humani-
ties as well as in science, technology, and engineering (Commission on Higher
Education 2014a).
The CHED identified research priority areas in the social sciences (Commission
on Higher Education 2010c) as well as in the natural sciences (Commission on
Higher Education 2010b). This is to provide direction in research that has economic
and social impact. In the social sciences, the priority areas are the following:
- Drivers, processes, and consequence of community transitions, labor migration,
and changing family structure - Evolution of social institutions in response to changes in family and community
structures - Alignment of human capital development goals in school, in communities, and
in Philippine society - Social processes and factors that shape educational policies and process at the
national, community, school, and individual levels - Efficacy of educational processes in the development of quality human capital
- Social processes and dimensions of educational reforms and institutions
- Social antecedents of disaster and social determinants of vulnerability to disas-
ter, social response to disaster mitigation and adaptation, and social processes in
relief and developmental responses to disaster - Short-term and long-term consequences on well-being of individual and com-
munities in disaster-stricken and vulnerable areas
C.B.S. Bustamante