Qatar National Research Survey (QNRS)

Objective

Qatar National Research Survey (QNRS) aims at creating an institutional repository of research activities produced by Qatari based researchers and make them accessible to the public. QNRS will monitor and record research inputs so as to make researchers and the general public aware about level of research being conducted in Qatar.

Description

On periodical basis, QNRF publishes a summary of all research conducted about Qatari based researchers, including any conducted by undergraduates in Qatari higher education institutions. Similarly, QNRF also publishes PhD and Master dissertations of Qatari researchers that are completed inside or outside Qatar. For non-proprietary research, this survey will include names of investigators, titles of research, availability, journal record and publisher. Abstracts will also be provided. Future expansion in partnership with Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals will include the full text record.

The QNRS database now contains over 8,000 records that are both in Arabic and English languages. These records can be searched and accessed online. Periodically, QNRF will add new records into the database as soon as they become available.

Responsiveness to Challenges

An ongoing challenge for QNRF is to maintain an awareness of all research being conducted in Qatar, regardless of its source of funding. Prior to to this initiative there have been no platforms in Qatar that records research activities. To response to this challenge, QNRF has embarked since 2007 to archive research publication which was undertaken in Qatar so as to allow researchers to build their activities on previous research projects. Importantly, this activity will allow researchers and the general public to see the level and depth of research being implemented in Qatar. The availability of these archives to the public will help publicize research findings and will provide a corpus of work that can be used by future researchers to study the impact such funding activities have had on Qatar.

Potential Benefits

This activity will inform potential sponsors and beneficiaries about ongoing research in Qatar whether funded by QNRF and otherwise. It will provide a valuable source of information that could serve to speed up the rate of collaboration among researchers, and will help researchers in Qatar to build upon already conducted research. At the same time, the survey could be used as a marketing tool to help recruit researchers from throughout the world and serve to promote and communicate Qatar's research investments and outcomes nationally and internationally.