Having a great passion in writing scholarly articles in various areas of Islamic banking and finance, her strength lies mainly in producing quality research work especially in the area of Islamic social finance. She has published extensively in indexed peer-reviewed academic journals with nearly 150 articles with her works being the main reference to both the academia and industry. With a Scopus H-index of 12, she is among the top and most prolific writers in the area of Islamic finance. Reflecting her outstanding performance, she won several “Best Paper Awards” in various academic conferences. In 2020 and 2013, papers that she co-authored won the “Outstanding Paper Award” by the Emerald Literati Network, and in 2010, she won second place in the 3rd Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum (KLIFF) Essay Competition on Islamic Finance. She has also published several books mainly in the areas of Islamic finance, with reputable publishers, namely IIUM Press, UPM Press and USIM Press. In particular, her book on “Islamic Financial System: Theory and Practice” has been one of the main sources of reference in many universities offering the Islamic banking and finance programs. In addition, three books are currently in the midst of publication. Her primary research focus, includes various areas of Islamic banking and finance, especially Islamic social finance and monetary/financial economics, where she has produced substantial research outputs in the areas of Islamic micro-finance, waqf and women entrepreneurship as well as economic empowerment. 

She has been awarded several grants, funds and sponsorships from reputable international and local organisations, including from Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, Ministry of Finance, Malaysia, Permodalan Nasional Berhad, and Islamic Development Bank. In recognition to her dynamic role as a subject matter expert, Dr Salina has been appointed as member of the editorial boards of several reputable international and local journals. She has been a regular reviewer for many academic local and international academic journals, focusing on the areas of Islamic banking and finance. At present, she is supervising (and has supervised) 49 PhD candidates and 26 Masters candidates. She has also served as internal and external examiners for Masters and PhD theses in several universities in Malaysia and Indonesia. She was appointed as Adjunct Professor at the Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya in Indonesia from January 2019 to December 2019. 

Dr. Salina has been sought after for her expertise in various aspects of Islamic banking and finance as an invited speaker in local and international seminars and conferences. Her recent public speaking engagements which were primarily focusing on the areas of research in Islamic social finance held at several universities in Indonesia and Malaysia. She has presented her research works at international academic conferences in many parts of the world including United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Dr. Salina also serves as a trainer for “Islamic Financial System” – a module that she designed, under a training programme offered by the Association of Shariah Advisors in Islamic Finance (ASAS), which is based in Malaysia. Dr Salina has been appointed by the Ministry of Education Malaysia as a panel evaluator for Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) since 2014, an annual national level grant scheme being offered to all public and private universities in the country. She is also involved in drafting the waqf blueprint which is expected to be launched soon by the Religious Council of the Federal Territory of Malaysia. She has consistently been invited as a subject matter expert to series of workshops in assisting the preparation for the respective blueprint. In addition, she has been assisting the development of modest fashion industry through a strategic collaboration between the Chamber of Islamic Trade and Investment Malaysia, Markamarie Global and IIiBF, whereby the “Fund the Founders” initiative was launched to connect new start-ups in the modest fashion industry with potential funders to provide sufficient aid that could assist them to continuously expand their businesses. A frequent award winner in the annual IIUM Quality Day, Dr Salina also received recognitions as Top 100 Most Influential Women in Islamic Business and Finance 2019, awarded by Cambridge IFA in Dubai in 2019, and also Distinguished Woman in Management, awarded by Venus International Foundation in 2020. 

Prior to her vast working experience as an academician, Dr Salina has served as a Senior Executive at Economics and Corporate Planning Division at a local commercial bank for several years. These industry-related exposure had equipped her with the practical aspects and issues of commercial banking, and the understanding of the general banking and financial system. Dr Salina received a PhD in Monetary Economics in 2006 from the IIUM and Master and Bachelor degrees from the USA in 1992 and 1994, respectively.