Publish or perish
Encyclopedia
"Publish or perish" is a phrase coined to describe the pressure in academia
to publish
work constantly to further or sustain one's career.
Frequent publication is one of the few methods at a scholar's disposal to demonstrate their academic capabilities, and the attention that successful publications bring to scholars and their sponsoring institutions can facilitate progress through the field and continued funding. Scholars who publish infrequently, or who focus on activities which do not result in publications such as instructing undergraduates, may find themselves out of contention for available tenure-track positions.
The pressure to publish has been cited as a cause of poor work being submitted to academic journals.
is very much a minority opinion in such settings.
The pressure to publish-or-perish also detracts from the time and effort professors can devote to teaching undergraduate (and some graduate) courses. The rewards for exceptional teaching rarely match the rewards for exceptional research, which encourages faculty to favor the latter whenever they conflict.
Many universities do not focus on teaching ability when they hire new faculty, and simply look at the publications list (and, especially in technology-related areas, the ability to bring in research money). This single-minded focus on the professor-as-researcher may cause faculty to neglect or be unable to perform some other responsibilities.
Another important aspect of professorship is mentorship of graduate students, an aspect rarely assessed when new faculty are admitted to a department.
Regarding the humanistic disciplines, teaching and passing on the tradition of Literae Humaniores
is often placed in a very secondary position in research universities and treated as a non-scholarly activity, to the detriment of high culture. Hanson and Heath have polemicized against this in their book, Who Killed Homer.
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
to publish
Academic publishing
Academic publishing describes the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in journal article, book or thesis form. The part of academic written output that is not formally published but merely printed up or posted is often called...
work constantly to further or sustain one's career.
Frequent publication is one of the few methods at a scholar's disposal to demonstrate their academic capabilities, and the attention that successful publications bring to scholars and their sponsoring institutions can facilitate progress through the field and continued funding. Scholars who publish infrequently, or who focus on activities which do not result in publications such as instructing undergraduates, may find themselves out of contention for available tenure-track positions.
The pressure to publish has been cited as a cause of poor work being submitted to academic journals.
Origin
The phrase appeared in a non-academic context in the 1932 book "Archibald Cary Coolidge: life and letters" by Harold Jefferson Coolidge. In 1938, the phrase appeared in a college-related publication. The expression also appears in The Academic Man: A Study in the Sociology of a Profession, published in 1942.Advantages
Research-oriented universities may attempt to manage the unhealthy aspects of the publish-or-perish practices, but their administrators often argue that some pressure to produce cutting-edge research is necessary to motivate scholars early in their careers to focus on research advancement, and learn to balance its achievement with the other responsibilities of the professorial role. The call to abolish tenureTenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
is very much a minority opinion in such settings.
Disadvantages
There are a number of criticisms of this phenomenon, the most notable being that the emphasis on publishing may decrease the value of resulting scholarship, as scholars must spend more time scrambling to publish whatever they can manage, rather than spend time developing significant research agendas.The pressure to publish-or-perish also detracts from the time and effort professors can devote to teaching undergraduate (and some graduate) courses. The rewards for exceptional teaching rarely match the rewards for exceptional research, which encourages faculty to favor the latter whenever they conflict.
Many universities do not focus on teaching ability when they hire new faculty, and simply look at the publications list (and, especially in technology-related areas, the ability to bring in research money). This single-minded focus on the professor-as-researcher may cause faculty to neglect or be unable to perform some other responsibilities.
Another important aspect of professorship is mentorship of graduate students, an aspect rarely assessed when new faculty are admitted to a department.
Regarding the humanistic disciplines, teaching and passing on the tradition of Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
is often placed in a very secondary position in research universities and treated as a non-scholarly activity, to the detriment of high culture. Hanson and Heath have polemicized against this in their book, Who Killed Homer.
See also
- Academic publishingAcademic publishingAcademic publishing describes the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in journal article, book or thesis form. The part of academic written output that is not formally published but merely printed up or posted is often called...
- Impact factorImpact factorThe impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals with higher impact factors deemed...
- Least publishable unitLeast publishable unitIn academic publishing, the least publishable unit , also smallest publishable unit or minimum publishable unit , colloquially "publon" - the smallest measurable quantum of publication, is the minimum amount of information that can generate a publication in a peer-reviewed journal...
- TenureTenureTenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
- Michael SpivakMichael SpivakMichael David Spivak is a mathematician specializing in differential geometry, an expositor of mathematics, and the founder of Publish-or-Perish Press. He is the author of the five-volume Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry. He received a Ph.D...
, founder of Publish-or-Perish Press - Slow scienceSlow ScienceSlow Science is part of the broader Slow Movement. It is based on the belief that science should be a slow, steady, methodical process, and that scientists should not be expected to provide "quick fixes" to society's problems...