Nigeria is stepping up efforts to compete in global scientific research as the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) relaunches its flagship journal to promote innovation, protect local discoveries and drive industrial development.
The Council says the revamped Journal of Raw Materials Research (JORMAR) marks a major shift in its research strategy and will provide scientists with an internationally recognised platform to publish studies on Nigeria’s raw materials.
Speaking at the launch in Abuja, Director-General of RMRDC, Professor Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, admitted that the Council had produced too few peer-reviewed publications since its establishment in 1988 despite its research mandate.
He said the Council launched the international journal to reverse that trend and strengthen Nigeria’s contribution to global scientific knowledge.
“There are a lot of people who actually want to publish their ideas, and it’s not there. People have done things that are patented, but they are not also published,” he said.
Professor Ike-Muonso warned that researchers risk losing ownership of their innovations when they secure patents without publishing their findings.
“Somebody will be out there, make some little addition to what you have done, publish it and own it,” he added.
The Director-General said the journal also complements RMRDC’s newly established research and academic cadre, which aims to increase research output and promote academic excellence.
Chairman of the JORMAR Implementation Committee, Dr. Sab Ebiriekwe, said the Council revived the journal after it became inactive following its last print edition in 2017.
He explained that RMRDC migrated the publication to a fully digital, open-access platform that supports online manuscript submission, double-blind peer review, editorial processing, publication and long-term archiving.
“A journal without a credible online presence is increasingly absent from global academic discourse, regardless of the quality of the work it publishes,” he said.
Dr. Ebiriekwe said the Council also digitised previous editions of the journal and assigned Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to 117 legacy articles, making them permanently accessible and citable.
He added that RMRDC is seeking inclusion in international indexing platforms, including Google Scholar, African Journals Online, Crossref, Dimensions, Semantic Scholar and OpenAlex, while preparing the journal for Scopus indexing.
Representing the Editor-in-Chief of JORMAR, Professor Peter Onwualu, Dr. A. Bello said the journal would position Nigeria as a leading contributor to global research on raw materials, value addition and industrial innovation.
He said the publication will feature multidisciplinary research on raw materials development, manufacturing, materials science, environmental sustainability, the circular economy, industrial competitiveness and supply chain management.
According to him, the journal will uphold international standards of editorial independence, rigorous peer review, research integrity and ethical publishing while strengthening collaboration among researchers, industry, policymakers and development partners.
Dr. Bello added that the journal will serve as a repository for scientific findings on Nigeria’s raw materials, including their availability, processing technologies, industrial applications and value-addition opportunities.
The relaunch forms part of RMRDC’s broader efforts to reposition itself as a globally recognised research institution capable of supporting Nigeria’s industrialisation through science, innovation and evidence-based policymaking.
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