Empowering Women Researchers: Insights Into the Challenges of Academic Research Production in an Emerging Saudi University

Scientific research plays a pivotal role as it contributes to the development of nations worldwide. However, empirical research investigating the challenges of academic research production among female faculty members at emerging universities is scarce. This research explores the challenges, perceptions, and recommendations for enhancing research production in the Department of English at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. To achieve this, the study employed a qualitative paradigm utilizing case studies and qualitative interviews to collect the research data through semi-structured interviews with twenty-four female faculty members from the Department of English. The main purpose of this study is to uncover the challenges that female academics encounter in research development and propose applicable solutions. The findings revealed that a high number of teaching hours, large class sizes, a lack of funding programs, administrative workload, maternal responsibilities, and work-life balance were the most prominent challenges that hindered research production. The study offered several recommendations, such as decreasing teaching hours, minimizing class sizes, adopting a flexitime work hour strategy, providing more research incentives, and implementing childcare policies to promote research production among female academics.