Publish or perish

The pressure to publish has been strongly criticized on the basis that over-emphasis on publishing may decrease the value of resulting scholarship, as scholars must spend more time scrambling to publish whatever they can get into print, rather than spending time developing significant research agendas.{{cite news|last=Decca|first=Aitkenhead|title=Peter Higgs: I wouldn't be productive enough for today's academic system|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/06/peter-higgs-boson-academic-system|newspaper=The Guardian}} Similarly, humanities scholar Camille Paglia has described the publish or perish paradigm as "tyranny" and further writes that "The [academic] profession has become obsessed with quantity rather than quality. ... One brilliant article should outweigh one mediocre book."Paglia, Camille. "Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders: Academe in the Hour of the Wolf". First published in Arion Spring 1991, republished in Paglia's Sex, Art and American Culture: New Essays (Vintage, 1992) {{ISBN|9780679741015}}.

The pressure to publish or perish also detracts from the time and effort professors can devote to teaching undergraduate courses and mentoring graduate students. The rewards for exceptional teaching rarely match the rewards for exceptional research, which encourages faculty to favor the latter whenever they conflict.{{cite web| last =Bauerlein| first =Mark| title =Literary Research: Costs and Impact| website =Center for College Affordability and Productivity| date =17 November 2011| url =http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/research/studies/literary-research-analysis/| access-date = 29 March 2015}}

Also, publish-or-perish is linked to scientific misconduct or at least questionable ethics.{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s11948-015-9638-0|pmid=25742806|first=M. |last=van Wesel |title=Evaluation by Citation: Trends in Publication Behavior, Evaluation Criteria, and the Strive for High Impact Publications|journal=Science and Engineering Ethics|issue=1|volume=22|pages=199–225|year=2016 |pmc=4750571}} It has also been argued that the quality of scientific work has suffered due to publication pressures. Physicist Peter Higgs, namesake of the Higgs boson, was quoted in 2013 as saying that academic expectations since the 1990s would likely have prevented him from both making his groundbreaking research contributions and attaining tenure: "It's difficult to imagine how I would ever have enough peace and quiet in the present sort of climate to do what I did in 1964 ... Today I wouldn't get an academic job. It's as simple as that. I don't think I would be regarded as productive enough."{{cite news |last=Aitkenhead |first=Decca |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/06/peter-higgs-boson-academic-system |title=Peter Higgs: I wouldn't be productive enough for today's academic system |work=The Guardian |date=6 December 2013 |access-date=24 August 2016}}

According to some researchers, the publish or perish culture might also perpetuate bias in academic institutions. Overall, women publish less frequently than men, and when they do publish their work receives fewer citations than their male counterparts, even when it is published in journals with significantly higher impact factors.{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0145931|title = On the Compliance of Women Engineers with a Gendered Scientific System|year = 2015|last1 = Ghiasi|first1 = Gita|last2 = Larivière|first2 = Vincent|last3 = Sugimoto|first3 = Cassidy R.|author3-link=Cassidy Sugimoto|journal = PLOS ONE|volume = 10|issue = 12|pages = e0145931|pmid = 26716831|pmc = 4696668|bibcode = 2015PLoSO..1045931G|doi-access = free}} Furthermore, one study pointed out that gaps in the promotion and progress of women in academic medicine may be significantly influenced by gender-based variances in article citations.{{Cite journal |last=Chatterjee |first=Paula |date=2021 |title=Gender Disparity in Citations in High-Impact Journal Articles |journal=JAMA Network Open |volume=4 |issue=7|pages=e2114509 |doi=10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.14509 |pmid=34213560 |pmc=8254129 }}

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 tenure is very much a minority opinion in such settings.{{Cite journal|last=Vuong |first=Q.-H.|date=2019|title=Breaking barriers in publishing demands a proactive attitude |journal=Nature Human Behaviour|volume=3|issue=10|page=1034|doi=10.1038/s41562-019-0667-6|pmid=31602012|doi-access=free}}

The MIT Media Lab's director Nicholas Negroponte instituted the motto "demo or die", privileging demonstrations over publication.Computers and People 33–37:1:7, 1984 (?) Another director, Joi Ito, modified this to "deploy or die", emphasizing the adoption of the technology.Nancy Duvergne Smith, "Deploy or Die—Media Lab Director's New Motto", Slice of MIT, [https://alum.mit.edu/slice/deploy-or-die-media-lab-directors-new-motto July 29, 2014] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322232145/https://alum.mit.edu/slice/deploy-or-die-media-lab-directors-new-motto |date=22 March 2023 }}

In 2024, card game "Publish or Perish" attracted more that 280,000 dollars founding at Kickstarter.{{Cite web |title=Publish or Perish: A Humorous Party Game about Academia |url=https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/maxhuibai/publish-or-perish-1/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=www.kickstarter.com}} In this game players are aimed to publish articles of moderate quality to get more citations.{{Cite journal |last=Kozlov |first=Max |date=2024-08-01 |title=‘Publish or Perish’ is now a card game — not just an academic’s life |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02511-5 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=632 |issue=8025 |pages=483–483 |doi=10.1038/d41586-024-02511-5|url-access=subscription }}

The earliest known use of the term in an academic context was in a 1928 journal article.{{Cite journal|last=Case|first=Clarence Marsh|date=1928|title=Scholarship in Sociology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qBAZAAAAIAAJ&q=%22publish+or+perish%22|journal=Sociology and Social Research|volume=12|pages=323–340|issn=0038-0393|lccn=sn83004127|oclc=5088377|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPZfi4ADcusC|title=The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs|last1=Doyle|first1=Charles Clay|last2=Mieder|first2=Wolfgang|last3=Shapiro|first3=Fred R.|date=22 May 2012|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300136029|page=209|language=en}} The phrase appeared in a non-academic context in the 1932 book, Archibald Cary Coolidge: Life and Letters, by Harold Jefferson Coolidge.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDJSo80eRxsC&pg=PA308|title=Archibald Cary Coolidge: Life and Letters|first1=Harold Jefferson|last1=Coolidge|first2=Robert Howard|last2=Lord|date=22 March 1932|publisher=Books for Libraries Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780836966411}} In 1938, the phrase appeared in a college-related publication.{{cite journal|journal=Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges|jstor=40219435|title=Notes and Announcements|year=1938|volume=24|issue=5|pages=463–468}} According to Eugene Garfield, the expression first appeared in an academic context in Logan Wilson's book, "The Academic Man: A Study in the Sociology of a Profession", published in 1942.{{Cite journal

| author = Eugene Garfield

| title = What Is The Primordial Reference for the Phrase 'Publish Or Perish'?

| journal = The Scientist

| volume = 10

| issue = 12

|date=June 1996

| url = http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/commentaries/tsv10%2812%29p11y19960610.pdf

| page = 11

}} Others have attributed the phrase to Columbia University geneticist Kimball C. Atwood III.{{Cite book |last=Moosa |first=Imad A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx1HDwAAQBAJ&dq=Publish+or+perish+atwood&pg=PT15 |title=Publish or Perish: Perceived Benefits versus Unintended Consequences |date=2018-01-26 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-78643-493-7 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=1992-10-22 |title=Obituary: Kimball C. Atwood III |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-kimball-c-atwood-iii-1558979.html |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=The Independent |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Moosa |first=Imad A. |url=https://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781786434920/chapter01.xhtml |title=Publish or perish: Origin and perceived benefits: Perceived Benefits versus Unintended Consequences |date=2018-01-26 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-78643-493-7 |language=en-US}}

• Academic careerism
• Forced ranking
• Least publishable unit, reduction to which is often disparagingly labeled "salami slicing"
• Scientometrics
• Slow science
• Up or out

{{reflist}}

• Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom. New York: The Free Press, 1998.
• [http://www.prism-magazine.org/jan07/feature_21st_century.cfm Thomas K. Grose, "21st Century Professor," ASEE Prism, January 2007]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070418132206/http://www.txclassics.org/greekarticles8.htm#chrysoloras Richard L.S. Evans, "Chrysoloras' Greek: The Pedagogy of Cultural Transformation."]
• [http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2599/2404 Herb, Ulrich. (2010) "Sociological implications of scientific publishing: Open access, science, society, democracy, and the digital divide" First Monday, Volume 15, Number 2 – 1 February 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223151642/http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2599/2404 |date=23 February 2012 }} Better link [https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2599/2404]
• [http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm Publish or Perish] program (PoP) calculates various author-level metrics, including the h-index and the g-index using Google Scholar data
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y73PC452Msw Publish or Perish?] A YouTube video (6 Nov 2014) slide presentation of the disadvantages of the Publish Or Perish system.

• {{wikiquote-inline|Publishing}}

{{Academic publishing}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Publish Or Perish}}

Category:academic publishing

Category:academic terminology