Researchers' Performance in Preparing their Research Projects Between Scientific Agility and Obesity in the Light of the Research Paradigm: A Theoretical Study

Scientific research is one of the pillars of local and global investment, and that is why countries are seeking to prepare qualified researchers with knowledge and skills, to overcome the challenges and difficulties facing scientific research in the Arab world, which led to outputs that are not worthy of the history of the Arabs and their outstanding contributions in the field of scientific research. This research dealt with the issue of agility and obesity in the performance of researchers when preparing and formulating their research projects and theses. By reviewing the theoretical literature on this subject, the researcher noticed a research interest since the eighties of the twentieth century in studying the term of agility in various fields, including management, business administration, shopping, production, sports and physical sciences, engineering and others. On the other hand, there is a lack of research interest in studying or writing about the concept of agility in the field of scientific research, especially with regard to the performance of researchers in their projects and theses. Therefore, this research aimed to study agility and obesity in scientific research, a theoretical study, using the measurement or transformation strategy referred to by Assaf (2012). From the previous theoretical literature on organizational agility, strategic agility, agility in athlete performance and other conceptual theoretical frameworks and studies, the researcher precedent, and transformed it into agility in the field of scientific research. In light of this, the current research reached to formulate a theoretical framework about the concept of scientific agility and obesity according to the research paradigm, by providing a definition of research agility and its requirements and characteristics of agile research performance, and clarifying the concept of research obesity and its risks. The researcher also listed the characteristics of a good research thesis, and identified the most common mistakes that researchers fall into when preparing their projects and theses, and cause the obesity in their performance, sagging project and theses and loss of competitive advantage. In light of these findings, the researcher formulated several recommendations, including holding training courses on agility and research obesity, and preparing a guide for researchers about the most common mistakes in preparing the project and theses that cause their performance obesity, so that this research contributes to its findings in spreading the culture of agility performance to engaged in scientific research in universities and research centers that enable them to exploit the essential opportunities and capabilities in their research production to achieve competitive advantage, and enlighten them about the dangers of research obesity and the scientific weakness and slack in their scientific production, which prevents them from achieving competitive advantage and the delay of their universities in international rankings.