FAISALABAD, Aug 4: The Pakistan Council of Science and Technology (PCST) has given cash awards of productivity allowance to 11 selected scientists of the University of Agriculture for the financial year 2001-2002.

The total amount of Rs1.35 million received by the Agrivarsity scientists is the maximum of all agricultural research institutes of the country.

Similarly, 10 scientists of the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB) have been given Rs1.32 million productivity allowance.

The Pakistan Council for Science and Technology has also initiated the process of evaluating scientific achievements of the scientists working in different research and development organizations in the country.

The evaluation was based on the numerical value of the Journal Impact Factor published in the Journal Citation Report (JCR) of the Institute of Scientific Information Philadelphia, USA.

The JCR was weighted citation count based on the average number of citations a scientific journal receives and publishes each year. The JCR impact factor depicts the relative quality in its own discipline.

Prof Dr Riaz Hussain Qureshi, Agrivarsity vice-chancellor, has been given Rs210,000 research productivity allowance award and Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf has been awarded Rs360,000 for his research in botanical sciences.

Dr Muhammad Nawaz and Prof Dr Shoaib Akhtar of the Department of Vety Physiology and Pharmacology have been awarded Rs120,000 each. While Prof Akhtar has also been given Rs40,000 for the Best Teacher Award from the University Grants Commission during the year 2001-2002.

Similarly, Department of Crop Physiology chairman Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed and Department of Agri Entomology associate professor Dr Mushtaq Saleem have been awarded Rs120,000 each in their respective areas of research.

Prof Dr Muhammad Arshad and associate professor Dr Rehmatullah Khan, Department of Soil Science; Prof Dr Faqir Muhammad Anjum, Department of Food Technology chairman; Dr Muhammad Zargham, associate professor and Department of Vety Pathology chairman; and young scientist Dr Amer Jameel of the Chemistry Department, are also among the recipients of productivity allowance of Rs 60,000.

Prof Dr Muhammad Aslam, Department of Soil Science and Principle of Agriculture College, Dera Ghazi Khan, has been given Rs40,000 for the Best University Teacher Award by the UGC, Islamabad, while associate professor Dr Muhammad Javaid of the Department of Zoology and Fisheries has also received Rs10,000 cash award and certificate of appreciation from the Pakistan Science Foundation.