How to ensure research quality in Islamic economics ?

الملخص EN

Asad Zaman has been advocating for the dominant role of spirit and morality as Islamic alternatives to the secular morality for improvement of the research quality in Islamic economics.

There are some other streams of thought in Islamic economics as well.

But the present paper does not enter into this controversy.

It discusses how the quality of research papers can be improved.

A good paper is one which adds to the knowledge; does not repeat and reproduce what has already been mentioned or researched; aims at filling a gap in the discipline; is free from plagiarism; is based on original sources; and clearly states the ideas based on the Qur’ān and ḥadīth and refers to them in the text.

To improve research quality, the foremost responsibility lies on the researcher himself.

He should follow the criteria of good research.

The editor and the referee also have to work to ensure that the research quality is maintained.

Thus, the trio (researcher – editor – reviewer) constitutes a very crucial part of the process of research quality in any field; be it in pure or social sciences, particularly if the discipline is in a nascent and development stage like Islamic Economics.