List of recent publications By Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim

List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
Aghaei Chadegani, A., et al. (2013). "A Comparison between Two Main Academic Literature Collections: Web of
Science and Scopus Databases." Asian Social Science 9(5): 18-26.
Nowadays, the world’s scientific community has been publishing an enormous number of papers in
different scientific fields. In such environment, it is essential to know which databases are equally
efficient and objective for literature searches. It seems that two most extensive databases are Web of
Science and Scopus. Besides searching the literature, these two databases used to rank journals in terms
of their productivity and the total citations received to indicate the journals impact, prestige or
influence. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive comparison of these databases to answer
frequent questions which researchers ask, such as: How Web of Science and Scopus are different? In
which aspects these two databases are similar? Or, if the researchers are forced to choose one of them,
which one should they prefer? For answering these questions, these two databases will be compared
based on their qualitative and quantitative characteristics.
Ale Ebrahim, N. (2013). "Introduction to the Research Tools Mind Map." Research World 10(4): 1-3.
With the increasing use of information and communications technology (ICT), researchers are able to
use computer software tools to find, organise, manipulate, analyse, and share relevant information.
However, there are hundreds of such tools to select from, for various research-related uses. I have
collected over 700 tools that can help researchers do their work efficiently. It is assembled as an
interactive Web-based mind map, titled Research Tools, which is updated periodically. Created using the
MindMeister software platform, Research Tools provides a convenient interface with zoom in/out,
screen drag, and other user-friendly features.
Being a mind map, Research Tools consists of a hierarchical set of nodes. It has four main nodes: (1) Searching
the literature, (2) Writing a paper, (3) Targeting suitable journals, and (4) Enhancing visibility and impact, and six
auxiliary nodes. In the mind map, each parent node has several child nodes associated with it, which can be
accessed by clicking on the plus (+) sign. Several free tools can be found in the child nodes. Some paid tools are
also included.
The four main nodes are described below, listing some tools as examples. In the mind map, a green tick sign
indicates my preference for some tools. Users can access the tools by clicking on the arrow sign that appears next
to the tool title.
Ale Ebrahim, N. (2014). "Citation Frequency and Ethical Issue." Electronic Physician 6(2): 814-815.
There is no significant penalty for the most frequent self - citers, and the effect of self - citation remains
positive even for very high rates of self - citation. However, WoS has dropped some journals from its
database because of untrue trends in the citations. The same policy also should be applied for the most
frequent self - citers. The ethics of publications should be adhered to by those who wish to conduct
research and publish their findings.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2011). "The Effectiveness of Virtual R&D Teams in SMEs: Experiences of Malaysian SMEs."
Industrial Engineering and Management Systems 10(2): 109-114.
http://dx.doi.org/10.7232/iems.2011.10.2.109
The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those involved with research and
development (R&D) programs and employed virtual teams to create the greatest competitive advantage
from limited labor are increasing. Global and localized virtual R&D teams are believed to have high
potential for the growth of SMEs. Due to the fast-growing complexity of new products coupled with
new emerging opportunities of virtual teams, a collaborative approach is believed to be the future trend.
This research explores the effectiveness of virtuality in SMEs’ virtual R&D teams. Online questionnaires
were emailed to Malaysian manufacturing SMEs and 74 usable questionnaires were received,
representing a 20.8 percent return rate. In order to avoid biases which may result from pre-suggested
answers, a series of open-ended questions were retrieved from the experts. This study was focused on
analyzing an open-ended question, whereby four main themes were extracted from the experts’
recommendations regarding the effectiveness of virtual teams for the growth and performance of SMEs.
The findings of this study would be useful to product design managers of SMEs in order to realize the
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
key advantages and significance of virtual R&D teams during the new product development (NPD)
process. This in turn, leads to increased effectiveness in new product development's procedure.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2012). "Effective Virtual Teams for New Product Development." Scientific Research and
Essay 7(21): 1971-1985.
At present, the existing literature shows that the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual
teams for new product development are still ambiguous. To address this problem, a research design was
developed, which includes detailed literature review, preliminary model and field survey. From literature
review, the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams are identified and these factors are
modified using a field survey. The relationship between knowledge workers (people), process and
technology in virtual teams is explored in this study. The results of the study suggest that technology
and process are tightly correlated and need to be considered early in virtual teams. The use of software
as a service, web solution, report generator and tracking system should be incorporated for
effectiveness virtual teams.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2012). "Technology Use in the Virtual R&D Teams." American Journal of Engineering and
Applied Sciences 5(1): 9-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.3844/ajeassp.2012.9.14
Problem statement: Although, literature proves the importance of the technology role in the
effectiveness of virtual Research and Development (R&D) teams for new product development.
However, the factors that make technology construct in a virtual R&D team are still ambiguous. The
manager of virtual R&D teams for new product development does not know which type of technology
should be used. Approach: To address the gap and answer the question, the study presents a set of
factors that make a technology construct. The proposed construct modified by finding of the field
survey (N = 240). We empirically examine the relationship between construct and its factors by
employing the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A measurement model built base on the 19
preliminary factors that extracted from literature review. The result shows 10 factors out of 19 factors
maintaining to make technology construct. Results: These 10 technology factors can be grouped into
two constructs namely Web base communication and Web base data sharing. The findings can help new
product development managers of enterprises to concentrate in the main factors for leading an
effective virtual R&D team. In addition, it provides a guideline for software developers as well.
Conclusion: The second and third generation technologies are now more suitable for developing new
products through virtual R&D teams.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2012). "Virtual Collaborative R&D Teams in Malaysia Manufacturing SMEs." Advanced
Materials Research 433-440: 1653-1659.
This paper presents the results of empirical research conducted during March to September 2009. The
study focused on the influence of virtual research and development (R&D) teams within Malaysian
manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The specific objective of the study is better
understanding of the application of collaborative technologies in business, to find the effective factors
to assist SMEs to remain competitive in the future. The paper stresses to find an answer for a question
“Is there any relationship between company size, Internet connection facility and virtuality?”. The survey
data shows SMEs are now technologically capable of performing the virtual collaborative team, but the
infrastructure usage is less. SMEs now have the necessary technology to begin the implementation
process of collaboration tools to reduce research and development (R&D) time, costs and increase
productivity. So, the manager of R&D should take the potentials of virtual teams into account.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2009). "Innovation and R&D Activities in Virtual Team." European Journal of Scientific
Research 34(3): 297-307.
Innovation plays a central role in economic development, at the regional and national level. In the
competitive environment companies are obliged to produce more rapidly, more effectively and more
efficiently in new product development, which is a result of research and development (R&D) activities.
It is necessary for them to put together different capabilities and services with the goal, through
cooperation between suppliers and customers, service providers and scientific institutions to achieve
innovations of high quality. Depending on the type of industry, the type of business, the type of
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
innovation and the strategic objectives that have been set, firms will regularly have to modify the way in
which their R&D and innovation are organized. Nowadays, shift from serial to simultaneous and parallel
working in innovation has become more commonplace. Literatures have shown that collaboration is as a
meta-capability for innovation. By a comprehensive reviewing of literature this article after define virtual
teams and its characteristics, addressing virtual environment innovation and the relationship to R&D
activities. Finally conclude that innovation cannot be successful, unless the knowledge and information
in the R&D project are effectively captured, shared and internalized by the R&D project’s virtual team
members.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2009). "Modified Stage-Gate: A Conceptual Model of Virtual Product Development
Process." African Journal of Marketing Management 1(9): 211-219.
In today’s dynamic marketplace, manufacturing companies are under strong pressure to introduce new
products for long-term survival with their competitors. Nevertheless, every company cannot cope up
progressively or immediately with the market requirements due to knowledge dynamics being
experienced in the competitive milieu. Increased competition and reduced product life cycles put force
upon companies to develop new products faster. In response to these pressing needs, there should be
some new approach compatible in flexible circumstances. This paper presents a solution based on the
popular Stage-Gate system, which is closely linked with virtual team approach. Virtual teams can provide
a platform to advance the knowledge-base in a company and thus to reduce time-to-market. This article
introduces conceptual product development architecture under a virtual team umbrella. The paper
describes all the major aspects of new product development (NPD), NPD process and its relationship
with virtual teams, Stage-Gate system finally presents a modified Stage-Gate system to cope up with the
changing needs. It also provides the guidelines for the successful implementation of virtual teams in
new product development.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2009). "Virtual R & D teams in small and medium enterprises: A literature review." Scientific
Research and Essay 4(13): 1575–1590.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play
a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the
prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions
to complex organizational problems. Towards that end, research and development (R & D) aspect
deserves particular attention to promote and facilitate the operations of SMEs. Virtual R & D team could
be a viable option. However, literature shows that virtual R & D teaming in SMEs is still at its infancy.
This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R & D teams
collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the state-of-the-art literature review is to
provide an overview on the structure and dynamics of R & D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the
foundation and importance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R & D team and SMEs has
been examined. It concludes with the identification of the gaps in the existing literatures and calls for
future research. It is argued that setting-up an infrastructure for virtual R & D team in SMEs still requires
a large amount of engineering efforts and deserves consideration at top level management.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2009). "Virtual Teams for New Product Development – An Innovative Experience for R&D
Engineers." European Journal of Educational Studies 1(3): 109-123.
New interaction tools such as internet allow companies to gain valuable input from research and
development (R&D) engineers via virtual teams. Consequently, engineers also get more expertise in
diminutive timeframes. Virtual R&D teams present the key impetus to the technology acquisition
process. The present knowledge-economy era is characterized by short product life-cycles. Virtual R&D
teams may reduce time-to-market, make available a large pool of new product know-how and provide
greater flexibilities, which are the key success factors in a competitive market. This comprehensive
review contains almost 100 references and covers the recent literature with emphasis on the topic. The
review has focused on authentic and reputed publications and extracts the results. This article presents
the type of virtual teams and their main features and explains how virtual R&D team can play a
prominent role in developing new products. The article is evolved future study guideline and also
illustrates how to apply virtual interaction tools and integrate engineers into the innovation process.
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
Management of virtual R&D teams in new product development (NPD) processes in an innovative,
effective and efficient is of a high importance, but the issue has been poorly addressed in the previous
studies. Findings show that virtual R&D team provides valuable input for new product development and
R&D engineers are able to attain virtual experience.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2009). "Virtual Teams: a Literature Review." Australian Journal of Basic and Applied
Sciences 3(3): 2653-2669.
In the competitive market , virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for fasting time-tomarket, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Virtual teams enable
organizations to pool the talents and expertise of employees and non-employees by eliminating time
and space barriers . Nowadays, companies are heavily investing in virtual team to enhance their
performance and competitiveness. Despite virtual teams growing prevalence, relatively little is known
about this new form of team. Hence the study offers an extensive literature review with definitions o f
virtual teams and a structured analysis of the present body of knowledge of virtual teams. First, we
distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams , different types of virtual teams to identify where
current knowledge applies. Second, we distinguish what is needed for effective virtual team considering
the people, process and technology point of view and underlying characteristics of virtual teams and
challenges they entail. Finally, we have identified an d extended 12 key factors that need to be
considered, and describes a methodology focused on supporting virtual team working, with a new
approach that has not been specifically addressed in the existing literature and some guide line for
future research extracted.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2010). "Critical Factors for New Product Developments in SMEs Virtual Team." African
Journal of Business Management 4(11): 2247-2257.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered as an engine for economic growth all over the
world and especially for developing countries. During the past decade, new product development (NPD)
has increasingly been recognized as a critical factor in ensuring the continued survival of SMEs. On the
other hand, the rapid rate of market and technological changes has accelerated in the past decade, so
this turbulent environment requires new methods and techniques to bring successful new products to
the marketplace. Virtual team can be a solution to answer the requested demand. However, literature
have shown no significant differences between traditional NPD and virtual NPD in general, whereas NPD
in SME’s virtual team has not been systematically investigated in developing countries. This paper aims
to bridge this gap by first reviewing the NPD and its relationship with virtuality and then identifies the
critical factors of NPD in virtual teams. The statistical method was utilized to perform the required
analysis of data from the survey. The results were achieved through factor analysis at the perspective of
NPD in some Malaysian and Iranian manufacturing firms (N = 191). The 20 new product development
factors were grouped into five higher level constructs. It gives valuable insight and guidelines, which
hopefully will help managers of firms in developing countries to consider the main factors in NPD.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2010). "SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product
development: A literature review." International Journal of the Physical Sciences 5(7): 916–930.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Their
continued growth is a major subject for the economy and employment of any country. Towards that
end, virtual research and development (R&D) could be a viable option to sustain and ease the
operations of SMEs. However, literature shows there has not been a great deal of research into the
diverse characteristic of virtual R&D teams in SMEs. This article provides a comprehensive literature
review on different aspects of virtual R&D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose
of the literature review is to provide an outline on the structure and dynamics of R&D collaboration in
SMEs. Specifying the rationale and relevance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R&D
team for SMEs and new product development (NPD) has been examined. It concludes with identifying
the gaps and feebleness in the existing literature and calls for future research in this area. It is argued to
form of virtual R&D team deserves consideration at top level management for venturing into the new
product development within SMEs.
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2010). "Virtual R&D teams and SMEs growth: A comparative study between Iranian and
Malaysian SMEs." African Journal of Business Management 4(11): 2368-2379.
This paper explores potential advantages of using virtual teams for small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) with a comprehensive review on various aspects of virtual teams. Based on the standing of the
pertinent literatures, attempt has been made to study the aspects by online survey method in Iran and
Malaysia. In both countries, SMEs play an important role in their economies, employments, and capacity
building. Virtual R&D team can be one of the means to increase SMEs efficiency and competitiveness in
their local as well as global markets. In this context, surveys have been conducted to evaluate the effects
of virtuality to the growth of SMEs. The study addresses some differences between two countries in
engaging virtual research and development (R&D) teams in their SMEs. It is observed that there is a
significant difference between the SMEs turnover that employed virtual team and that did not employ
the virtual team. The way for further studies and recommend improvements are proposed.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2011). "Virtual R&D Teams: A potential growth of education-industry collaboration."
Academic Leadership Journal 9(4): 1-5.
With the advent of the global economy and high-speed Internet, online collaboration is fast becoming
the norm in education and industry. Information technology (IT) creates many new inter-relationships
among businesses, expands the scope of industries in which a company must compete to achieve the
competitive advantage. Information systems and technology allow companies to coordinate their
activities in distant geographic locations. IT is providing the infrastructure necessary to support the
development of new collaboration forms among industry and education. Virtual research and
development (R&D) teams represent one such relational form, one that could revolutionize the
workplace and provide organizations with unprecedented levels of flexibility and responsiveness.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2011). "Virtual Teams and Management Challenges." Academic Leadership Journal 9(3):
1-7.
Introduction:
Collaboration is becoming increasingly important in creating the knowledge that makes business more
competitive. Virtual teams are growing in popularity [1] and many organizations have responded to their
dynamic environments by introducing virtual teams. Additionally, the rapid development of new communication
technologies such as the Internet has accelerated this trend so that today, most of the larger organization
employs virtual teams to some degree [2]. A growing number of flexible and adaptable organizations have
explored the virtual environment as one means of achieving increased responsiveness [3]. Howells et al. [4] state
that the shift from serial to simultaneous and parallel working has become more commonplace. Based on
conventional information technologies and Internet-based platforms virtual environments may be used to sustain
companies’ progress through virtual interaction and communication.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2014). "Equality of Google Scholar with Web of Science Citations: Case of Malaysian
Engineering Highly Cited Papers." Modern Applied Science 8(5): 63-69.
This study uses citation analysis from two citation tracking databases, Google Scholar (GS) and ISI Web
of Science, in order to test the correlation between them and examine the effect of the number of paper
versions on citations. The data were retrieved from the Essential Science Indicators and Google Scholar
for 101 highly cited papers from Malaysia in the field of engineering. An equation for estimating the
citation in ISI based on Google scholar is offered. The results show a significant and positive relationship
between both citation in Google Scholar and ISI Web of Science with the number of versions. This
relationship is higher between versions and ISI citations (r = 0.395, p<0.01) than between versions and
Google Scholar citations (r = 0.315, p<0.01). Free access to data provided by Google Scholar and the
correlation to get ISI citation which is costly, allow more transparency in tenure reviews, funding agency
and other science policy, to count citations and analyze scholars’ performance more precisely.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2014). "Visibility and Citation Impact." International Education Studies 7(4): 120-125.
The number of publications is the first criteria for assessing a researcher output. However, the main
measurement for author productivity is the number of citations, and citations are typically related to the
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
paper's visibility. In this paper, the relationship between article visibility and the number of citations is
investigated. A case study of two researchers who are using publication marketing tools confirmed that
the article visibility will greatly improve the citation impact. Some strategies to make the publications
available to a larger audience have been presented at the end of this paper.
Ale Ebrahim, N., et al. (2013). "Effective Strategies for Increasing Citation Frequency." International Education
Studies 6(11): 93-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v6n11p93
Due to the effect of citation impact on The Higher Education (THE) world university ranking system,
most of the researchers are looking for some helpful techniques to increase their citation record. This
paper by reviewing the relevant articles extracts 33 different ways for increasing the citations
possibilities. The results show that the article visibility has tended to receive more download and
citations. This is probably the first study to collect over 30 different ways to improve the citation record.
Further study is needed to explore and expand these techniques in specific fields of study in order to
make the results more precisely.
Bakhtiyari, K., et al. (2014). "Ethical and Unethical Methods of Plagiarism Prevention in Academic Writing."
International Education Studies 7(7): 52-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n7p52
This paper discusses plagiarism origins, and the ethical solutions to prevent it. It also reviews some
unethical approaches, which may be used to decrease the plagiarism rate in academic writings. We
propose eight ethical techniques to avoid unconscious and accidental plagiarism in manuscripts without
using online systems such as Turnitin and/or iThenticate for cross checking and plagiarism detection.
The efficiency of the proposed techniques is evaluated on five different texts using students individually.
After application of the techniques on the texts, they were checked by Turnitin to produce the
plagiarism and similarity report. At the end, the “effective factor” of each method has been compared
with each other; and the best result went to a hybrid combination of all techniques to avoid plagiarism.
The hybrid of ethical methods decreased the plagiarism rate reported by Turnitin from nearly 100% to
the average of 8.4% on 5 manuscripts.
Ebrahim, N. A., et al. (2010). "Critical factors for new product developments in SMEs virtual team." African Journal
of Business Management 4(11): 2247-2257.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered as an engine for economic growth all over the
world and especially for developing countries. During the past decade, new product development (NPD)
has increasingly been recognized as a critical factor in ensuring the continued survival of SMEs. On the
other hand, the rapid rate of market and technological changes has accelerated in the past decade, so
this turbulent environment requires new methods and techniques to bring successful new products to
the marketplace. Virtual team can be a solution to answer the requested demand. However, literature
have shown no significant differences between traditional NPD and virtual NPD in general, whereas NPD
in SME's virtual team has not been systematically investigated in developing countries. This paper aims
to bridge this gap by first reviewing the NPD and its relationship with virtuality and then identifies the
critical factors of NPD in virtual teams. The statistical method was utilized to perform the required
analysis of data from the survey. The results were achieved through factor analysis at the perspective of
NPD in some Malaysian and Iranian manufacturing firms (N = 191). The 20 new product development
factors were grouped into five higher level constructs. It gives valuable insight and guidelines, which
hopefully will help managers of firms in developing countries to consider the main factors in NPD.
Ebrahim, N. A., et al. (2010). "SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product
development: A literature review." International Journal of the Physical Sciences 5(7): 916-930.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Their
continued growth is a major subject for the economy and employment of any country. Towards that
end, virtual research and development (R&D) could be a viable option to sustain and ease the
operations of SMEs. However, literature shows there has not been a great deal of research into the
diverse characteristic of virtual R&D teams in SMEs. This article provides a comprehensive literature
review on different aspects of virtual R&D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
of the literature review is to provide an outline on the structure and dynamics of R&D collaboration in
SMEs. Specifying the rationale and relevance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R&D
team for SMEs and new product development (NPD) has been examined. It concludes with identifying
the gaps and feebleness in the existing literatures and calls for future research in this area. It is argued
to form of virtual R&D team deserves consideration at top level management for venturing into the new
product development within SMEs.
Ebrahim, N. A., et al. (2010). "Virtual R&D teams and SMEs growth: A comparative study between Iranian and
Malaysian SMEs." African Journal of Business Management 4(11): 2368-2379.
This paper explores potential advantages of using virtual teams for small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) with a comprehensive review on various aspects of virtual teams. Based on the standing of the
pertinent literatures, attempt has been made to study the aspects by online survey method in Iran and
Malaysia. In both countries, SMEs play an important role in their economies, employments, and capacity
building. Virtual R&D team can be one of the means to increase SMEs efficiency and competitiveness in
their local as well as global markets. In this context, surveys have been conducted to evaluate the effects
of virtuality to the growth of SMEs. The study addresses some differences between two countries in
engaging virtual research and development (R&D) teams in their SMEs. It is observed that there is a
significant difference between the SMEs turnover that employed virtual team and that did not employ
the virtual team. The way for further studies and recommend improvements are proposed.
Farhadi, H., et al. (2013). "Does it Matter Which Citation Tool is Used to Compare the h-index of a Group of
Highly Cited Researchers?" Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences 7(4): 198-202.
h-index retrieved by citation indexes (Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science) is used to measure
the scientific performance and the research impact studies based on the number of publications and
citations of a scientist. It also is easily available and may be used for performance measures of scientists,
and for recruitment decisions. The aim of this study is to investigate the difference between the outputs
and results from these three citation databases namely Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science
based upon the h-index of a group of highly cited researchers (Nobel Prize winner scientist). The
purposive sampling method was adopted to collect the required data. The results showed that there is a
significant difference in the h-index between three citation indexes of Scopus, Google scholar, and Web
of Science; the Google scholar h-index was more than the h-index in two other databases. It was also
concluded that there is a significant positive relationship between h-indices based on Google scholar
and Scopus. The citation indexes of Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science may be useful for
evaluating h-index of scientists but they have some limitations as well.
FARHADI, M., et al. (2013). "Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S
H-Index." Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology 57(1): 122-127.
The aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT
development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these
sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East
countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT
development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and
ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s
H-index is not clear.
Fooladi, M., et al. (2013). "Do Criticisms Overcome the Praises of Journal Impact Factor?" Asian Social Science
9(5): 176-182. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v9n5p176
Journal impact factor (IF) as a gauge of influence and impact of a particular journal comparing with
other journals in the same area of research, reports the mean number of citations to the published
articles in particular journal. Although, IF attracts more attention and being used more frequently than
other measures, it has been subjected to criticisms, which overcome the advantages of IF. Critically,
extensive use of IF may result in destroying editorial and researchers’ behaviour, which could
compromise the quality of scientific articles. Therefore, it is the time of the timeliness and importance of
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
a new invention of journal ranking techniques beyond the journal impact factor.
Gholizadeh, H., et al. (2014). "Relationship among Economic Growth, Internet Usage and Publication Productivity:
Comparison among ASEAN and World’s Best Countries." Modern Applied Science 8(2): 160-170.
Publication productivity, as measured by the number of papers, has been regarded as one of the main
indicators of reputation of countries and institutions. Nevertheless, the relationship among research
publications, economic growth and World Wide Web in ASEAN countries is still unclear. The main
intention of this study was to identify publication productivity among ASEAN and the world’s top ten
countries in the last 16 years (1996-2011). This study also aimed at finding the relationship among
publication, gross domestic product (GDP) and internet usage. Furthermore, the publication trend in the
10 first Malaysian universities was evaluated for the same periods. Scopus database was used to find the
overall documents, overall citations, citations per document and international collaboration from 1996
to 2011 for each country. The World Bank database (World Data Bank) was used to collect the data for
GDP and the number of internet users. Moreover, to evaluate 10 top Malaysian universities, the number
of published articles, conferences, reviews, and letters for the same periods was collected. The results of
this study showed significant differences among ASEAN and top 10 countries regarding publication
productivity. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship was observed between indices, GDP and
internet usage for these countries. Surprisingly, international collaboration had a significant and
negative relationship with economic growth. Malaysia had fewer citations per document (7.64) and
international collaboration (36.9%) among ASEAN countries. In conclusion, international collaboration
between academic institutes and researchers is influenced by economic growth and access to internet in
the countries. Furthermore, publication trends in ASEAN countries are promising. However, policy
makers and science managers should try to find different ways to increase the quality of the research
publication and to raise citation per document.
Gholizadeh, H., et al. (2014). "Economic Growth and Internet Usage Impact on Publication Productivity among
ASEAN’s and World’s Best Universities." Modern Applied Science 8(5): 169-178.
Measuring the number of papers which are published each year, publication productivity is the factor
which shows the reputation of universities and countries. However, the effect of growing economy and
using internet on the publication productivity in Asian countries has not been discovered yet. The
present research is going to figure out the publication productivity among the elite universities in Asian
countries and also ten top universities around the world in the last twenty years (from 1993 to 2012).
Furthermore, the current research is aimed to study the relationship among publication, gross domestic
product (GDP) and internet usage. It is worth to mention that the publication of the top Ten Malaysian
Universities was regarded for the similar period of time. To get the exact numbers of documents like
papers, conference articles, review papers and letters which are published by the universities in the last
twenty years, the writer of the same paper used the Science Direct database. Moreover, the data for
GDP and the number of internet usage was collected through the World Bank database (World Data
Bank).To compare all kinds of publications,one-way ANOVA was used and to investigate the impact of
economic growth and internet usage on publication productivity, multiple regression analysis was
applied.The results showed that the rate of publication growth was 1.9, 20.9, and 65.5 % in top
universities in the world, ASEAN countries and Malaysia, respectively.The results also showed that there
was a positive and significant correlation between GDP and the number of internet users with the
number of publications in ASEAN and Malaysian universities. Internet usage had much more influence in
comparison with the GDP in predicting the number of publications among these groups except for top
ten Malaysian universities from 2003 to 2012. In summary, publication trends in top ten Malaysian and
ASEAN universities are promising. However, policy makers and science managers should spend much
more percentage of their GDP on Internet facilities and research studies that their outputs lead to more
rapid economic growth and internet usage.
Jafarnejad, A., et al. (2009). "Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Iran: An Empirical Study Using
Structural Equation Modelling." Middle East FORUM 1(9): 71-85.
This paper examines the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Iran by applying the
structural equation modelling (SEM). Using the annual time series data for the 1991-2006 period, two
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
models were developed. In the first model the correlation between 12 determining factors and FDI in
Iran were analyzed and in the second model the 12 factors were fit into five categories of determinants
namely: Business, Economic, Infrastructural, Oil and Science and Technology and the impact of each of
the mentioned groups of factors was investigated.
The results derived through the first model indicated that openness of trade and Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
per capita have a significant positive impact on FDI in Iran, while along with inflation, oil extraction and
production had a surprisingly negative correlation with FDI. The results also suggested that infrastructural factors
pertaining to telecommunications in addition to market size, research and development (R&D), education and
the scientific output encourage FDI inflows in Iran.
The second model output estimates revealed that the business factors promote FDI most and interestingly once
more the oil factor proved to have a negative impact on the FDI inflows to Iran.
Raval, M. R. R., et al. (2010). "WORK TOGETHER… WHEN APART CHALLENGES AND WHAT IS NEED FOR
EFFECTIVE VIRTUAL TEAMS." Journal of Information, Knowledge and Research in Business Management and
Administration 1(1): 1-3.
Increasingly competitive global markets and accelerating technological changes have increased the
need for people to contact via electronic medium to have daily updates, the people those who could
not able to meet face to face every day. Those who contact via electronic medium i.e. Virtual Team, are
having number of benefit but to achieve these potential benefits, however, leaders need to overcome
liabilities inherent in the lack of direct contact among team members and managers. Team members
may not naturally know how to interact effectively across space and time. By this paper author try to
throw some lights on the challenges that virtual team faces and try to elaborate what is needed for
Virtual Team.
Tahriri, F., et al. (2014). "Supplier Assessment and Selection Using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process in a Steel
Manufacturing Company." Journal of Scientific Research and Reports 3(10): 1319-1338.
http://dx.doi.org/10.9734/JSRR/2014/8627
Every organization needs suppliers and no organization can exist without suppliers. Therefore, the
organizations approach to suppliers and the selection of the appropriate supplier, its acquisition
processes and policies, and its relationships with suppliers, is of vital importance, both to organizations
and suppliers alike. No organization can be successful without the support of its supplier base,
operationally and strategically, short or long-term.To select the best supplier, it is essential to make an
analytical decision based upon tangible and intangible criteria. Chose and management of a supplier
has to be congruent with organizational strategy. Therefore, the vision and strategy of the manufacturer
are the key drivers for how the supply function will be managed and how supply decisions are made and
exectuted. The proposed model in this study was applied in a steel manufacturing company in Malaysia
with the goal of reducing time in choosing the correct supplier for the company. This study aims to
provide a systematic model stimulating correct supplier selection using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy
Process (FAHP) method along with a series of sensitivity analyses which were conducted using the
Expert Choice (EC) program to evaluate the impact of changes in the priority of criteria for the suppliers'
performance and order quantities.
Aims: The main goal of this research is to develop a systematic model towards the best supplier selection. To
facilitate the aim of the research, we utilized the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process, which was a combination of
AHP and Fuzzy Theory in order to deal with the uncertainties and vagueness of decision makers’ judgement.
Study Design: Mention the design of the study here.
Place and Duration of Study: The data samples were taken in a steel manufacturing company in Malaysia.
Methodology: A Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy approach is used using a quantitative and qualitative criteria for
selecting and evaluating a suitable supplier selection and a six step was conducted to ensure successful
implementation.
Results: The results indicate that the model is able to assist decision makers to examine the strengths and
weaknesses of supplier selection by comparing them with appropriate criteria, sub-criteria and sub sub-criteria.
Conclusion: We developed a Fuzzy AHP multi-criteria decision making model for supplier evaluation and
List of recent publications By: Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim
selection in the ABC steel company in Malaysia. The advantage of the proposed model over other models like the
AHP is that, by adoption of fuzzy numbers, it effectively improves the flexibility of the conventional AHP in
dealing with the uncertainty and ambiguity associated with different decision makers’ judgments.
Wazed, M. A., et al. (2012). "Models for Component Commonality in Multistage Production." Applied Mechanics
and Materials 110-116: 258-266.
Use of common parts for different products (commonality) is important methods for managing product
variety and preserving competitiveness in the age of mass customization and supply chain competition.
In literature, the advantages of inclusion of common components in a product family are well
established. Unfortunately, most of the works have been conducted via simulation or conceptual
thinking. The mathematical models in the premises are not adequate for production, planning and
control in multistage production. This paper focuses on the advancement of venerable manufacturing
resources planning models by incorporating the part commonality concept in a multiproduct,
multi-period and multistage manufacturing system under a deterministic situation. The models are
validated with established MRPII models. The material requirement schedule for the basic MRP II and
proposed models are compared. It is really a good matching shown between the two schedules. The
later bearing additional information of the location where to be available the parts in a time frame. The
effects of commonality on cost, capacity and requirement schedule are discussed based on the
outcomes of the mathematical models executed with the available live data.

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