Faculty Promotion Policies and Procedures

Promotion Policies

AAU faculty members are promoted in accordance with the rules stated below which include performance in the areas of teaching, service and research.

A faculty member shall only be entitled to apply for promotion after the passage of one year from his/her appointment as a full-time faculty member in AAU. Applications for promotion can be submitted during the first and second semesters. The college dean, in consultation with the academic department, should decide whether to proceed with the application within one month. Given that the committee decided to proceed with the application, the application should be forwarded to the university promotion committee.

 Faculty members are evaluated for promotion on the basis of teaching, community and university service, and research.

 A faculty member applying for promotion needs to obtain a rating of at least (good) in both the teaching and community service evaluation reports prior to sending the papers to the external referees.

All papers submitted as part of the application for promotion are to be sent to three external referees. In order for the applicant to be considered for promotion, he/she must receive:

- A “strong” recommendation from   two out of the three   referees to be promoted to Associate Professor.

- A “strong” recommendation from all three   external   referees to be promoted to Professor.

Promotion to the rank of associate professor

In order to be promoted to the rank of associate professor, the candidate must fulfil the following conditions:

1. He/she must have served a minimum of five years as a full time assistant professor at AAU or any other accredited college or university, provided that the last year of his /her service is at AAU.
2. Must have research work published or accepted for publication in refereed journals while the   candidate was an assistant professor. 
3. He/she must present a minimum of five scientific papers (three of which have been published).
4. One of the published articles should be published in a first order journal as defined by the university.
5. The candidate should be the sole author of at least two of the submitted publications.
6. At least two of the papers must be published, or accepted for publication, during the faculty’s work at AAU.

Promotion to the rank of professor  

In order to be promoted to the rank of professor, the candidate must fulfil the following conditions:

1. He/she must have served a minimum of five years as a full time associate professor at AAU or any other accredited college or university, provided that the last two years of his /her service are at AAU.
2. Must have research work published or accepted for publication in refereed journals while the candidate was an associate professor. 
3. He/she must present a minimum of seven scientific papers. At least four of the papers should have been published while the other three can be accepted for publication. The papers should not have been used in the previous promotion.
4. Two of the published articles should be published in first order journals as defined by the university.
5. The candidate should be the sole author of at least two of the submitted publications.
6. At least two of the papers must be published, or accepted for publication, during the faculty’s work at AAU.

Required Documents for Academic Promotion 

FIRST: Documents required by the applicant (Faculty member):

1. Cover letter to the Department Head applying for promotion.
2. A completed application including the faculty member’s details (the form can be obtained for the College Deanship).
3. A declaration that the papers submitted as part of the application for promotion are not based on the MA thesis or PhD dissertation.
4. A letter that states the general and specific disciplines of the faculty member.
5. Detailed, comprehensive curriculum vitae.
6. Brief curriculum vitae.
7. Five copies of each academic work presented as part of the promotion application.
8. A separate table listing the publications by date of publication.
9. Letter of acceptance for each paper accepted for publication.
10. In addition to the above, the faculty member applying to be promoted to the rank of Professor needs to submit the following:

• the Deans’ Council’s decision to be promoted to Associate Professor;
• a list of the scientific papers based on which he/she received the promotion to Associate Professor;
• a declaration that all work submitted for promotion to the rank of Professor has been published after being promoted to Associate Professor.

SECOND: Documents required by the Department Head:

1. The minutes of the Department Council’s meeting which should include:
   • a paragraph  indicating that the Department Council has discussed the application and has decided that the application has met the requirements in accordance with the applicable promotion regulations at AAU;
   • a paragraph  indicating forming a scientific committee whose members are of a higher rank than the applicant to look into the scientific papers submitted for promotion.
2. The decision of the scientific committee (confidential).
3. An official letter from the Department Head to the College Dean explaining the Department Council’s recommendation to proceed with the promotion procedures listing the attached documents.

THIRD: Documents required by the College Dean:

1. The minutes of the College Council’s meeting which should include:
   • a paragraph  indicating that the College Council has discussed the application and has decided that the application has met the requirements in accordance with the applicable promotion regulations at AAU;
   • a paragraph  indicating forming a scientific committee whose members are of a higher rank than the applicant to look into the scientific papers submitted for promotion.
2. The decision of the scientific committee (confidential).
3. An official letter from the College Dean to the AAU President regarding the promotion application including the date and number of the College Council’s meeting as well as the College Council’s recommendation to proceed with the promotion procedure. The letter should also include the applicant’s name, discipline, and attached documents.

 Report (Teaching, University and Community Services) for the promotion of faculty members

• The applicant’s details:

FIRST: Teaching 

SECOND: University and College Service 

THIRD: Community Service

FOURTH: Other Characteristics

FIFTH: The Recommendation

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Research (Publications)

1. Research published or accepted for publication in refereed journals.
2. Refereed research work submitted to refereed conferences or specialised scientific symposia provided it is published in full in conference proceedings, or accepted for publication. Only one paper will be accepted for each rank.
3. Refereed research published or accepted for publication, by specialised university research centres. Only one paper of this item will be accepted for each ranks.
4. Refereed university textbooks and reference books. Only one book of this item will be accepted for each rank.
5. Refereed editions of rare books. Only one book of this item will be accepted for each rank.
6. Refereed translations of specialised books. Only one book of this item will be accepted for each rank.
7. Inventions and patents of creative products from patent offices approved by the council for academic affairs.
8. Creative work in accordance with the rules set by the university council.

Any item of the above must not be taken from the candidate’s Master’s thesis, Doctoral dissertation, or the researcher’s previous publications.