Page 77 - EXHIBIT 12 RESEARCH MANUAL

RESEARCH SERVICES POLICIES AND GUIDELINES 67

b. Peer Reviewers

The quality of research outputs is judged by the peer review mechanism. The scientific
and academic advancements of academic and research institutions and scientists are
based on peer-reviewed publications. Unknown to each other, the peer reviewers shall
be selected through invitations from research institutions/agencies other than the
author(s). Each of the peer reviewers must be a recognized scientist through his/her
publications in international peer reviewed journals. A statistician may be added as a
member of the panel of reviewers when necessary, as evaluated by the editor in chief.

The reviewers shall have responsibilities towards:

1. The authors by providing a written and unbiased feedback on the scientific
merits of the work, its conciseness, clarity and relevance, and the maintenance of
confidentiality in the review process;

2. The editorial staff by providing informative, thoughtful, constructive and fair
criticisms with respect to the originality and scientific merits of the research work,
including the standards of the research journal; and

3. The readers by protecting them from flawed researches that cannot be validated
and ensuring that the article citations are all relevant works of other scientists.

c. Timeliness of Publication

Research outputs and information must always be published as soon as possible. Since
it usually takes several months in the revise-and-submit cycles before the manuscripts
get finally published in the journal, the Editors should be responsible for timeliness
in manuscript submission, providing prompt responses and decisions related to the
journal, and acceptance of the published articles.

d. Joint Authorship of Publications

Only those who have substantially contributed or made an important contribution to
the research work should be listed as authors. Substantial or important contribution
refers involvement in the conceptualization, overall design, implementation, completion
and writing the research paper. To avoid administrative complexities, joint authorship
resulting from the contribution from various people should be stipulated in the research
contract or agreement.

The test for the claim of joint authorship is the ability of any of the named authors to
take responsibility for the publication. More importantly, the field of specialization of
each of the author shall have a bearing in the areas covered and tackled by the paper.

Usually the first named author in the manuscript is the senior author. It would be logical
and fair that he/she the one who had the most significant contribution in the content of
the paper, having been involved in the conduct of the research project, particularly in

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

RM.indb 67 11/11/14 1:55 PM