Here, Vice Chancellor of South Eastern University of Sri Lanka Prof. MMM Najim receives his Prestigious President's Award from President Maithiripala Sirisena.
President's Awards for Scientific Publication started in 2001 to recognize scientists whose work reached international standards and to increase national scientific production. Since 2001 there has been an upward trend in the output of publications.
The President's Awards for Scientific Publication scheme cover all the "hard science" journal titles, with a Sri Lankan institutional affiliation against at least one Sri Lankan author. The awards are given to Sri Lankan scientists with a Sri Lankan institutional affiliation who publish their work in journals indexed in Science Citation Index expanded. The awards system include a measure of Journal quality based on impact factor, also taking into consideration that different disciplines have widely differing Impact factors for their journals, as well as the quantum of research published by a scientist.