On 23 June 2026, Anar Eminov, Rector of Mingachevir State University, was the guest of honor of the “Meeting with the Master: Towards Quality in Research” section organized by “Clarivate”, a global transformative company.
The online webinar, moderated by Khayala Hajiyeva, Clarivate’s official representative for Azerbaijan, was dedicated to the topic “Overview and Updates of the 2026 Release of the Journal Citation Reports™ (JCR) Platform”. Hundreds of researchers, faculty members and young scientists from various universities and institutes across Azerbaijan and abroad took part in the event.
The main purpose of the webinar was to bring together academic staff and leaders of higher education institutions who play an important role in Azerbaijan’s science, education and research environment, and to facilitate a useful exchange of experience on research quality, international scientific databases and modern academic indicators.
Speaking at the event, MSU Rector Anar Eminov emphasized the special role of global platforms such as “Clarivate” and “Web of Science” in the integration of higher education institutions into the international scientific environment. The Rector noted that the proper evaluation of scientific publications, the improvement of research quality and the analysis of impact factor indicators are important components of universities’ strategic development goals.
“Competition among modern universities is measured not by the height of their buildings, but by the depth of their scientific impact. When there is quality science, indexing becomes its natural outcome,” said Anar Eminov.
Referring to the strengthening of scientific potential in regional universities, the Rector stated that the analytical opportunities provided by international scientific platforms create conditions for more transparent, measurable and results-oriented management of academic activity. He emphasized that such webinars are of great importance in terms of integrating researchers into the global scientific environment, expanding access to high-indexed publications and increasing the international academic reputation of universities.
Anar Eminov noted that in recent years, increasing international scientific visibility and encouraging the publication activity of staff members in journals represented in reputable index databases have been defined as one of the priority areas at MSU. For this purpose, the reward mechanism for scientific articles published in high-quartile journals has been improved. Currently, the amount of the one-time reward for articles published and indexed in Q1 quartile journals is 3,000 AZN.
The Rector also stated that a digital platform called ASIS – Academic Stimulation and Indexing System has been created at the university to ensure the continuous evaluation of scientific activity. Through this platform, employees’ scientific performance indicators, the number of indexed articles, the quartile of publications and other academic results are systematically assessed. Starting from the end of the current year, based on the ranking results to be formed through the ASIS platform, employees who achieve high performance indicators are expected to receive an additional payment of up to 30 percent of their monthly salary.
The speech also highlighted the gradual growth of Mingachevir State University’s scientific visibility in the Web of Science database. It was noted that the total number of WoS articles affiliated with MSU is 41. The university recorded 5 articles in 2024, 9 articles in 2025, and 7 articles so far in 2026. These indicators were assessed as a result of the work carried out to develop a culture of scientific publication at the university, expand access to internationally indexed journals and integrate researchers into the global academic environment.
Later, the webinar provided detailed information on the latest updates in the 2026 release of the Journal Citation Reports™ platform, the ranking indicators of scientific journals and the opportunities for researchers to effectively use international databases.
At the end of the event, participants’ questions were answered. It should be noted that certificates will be presented to the participants at the conclusion of this international-level webinar, which was organized to support research and academic development.