Category: Library - page 3

From Publish or Perish to Thrive and Diversify

To change any culture, you need to change the incentives that go with that culture. Within the context of university research, the developments within the Rewards and Recognition programme are crucial for getting away from the debilitating environment of Publish or Perish.

 

Professor Martijn Warnier is head of the Multi-Actor Systems Department within Delft University’s  Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. Like other scientists, he is concerned about the effect of the current publication culture – the ease by which ill-suited metrics are used within the review committees; the struggle to find peer reviewers; and the strain that the need to publish creates

Martijn Warnier speaking at the Chaning Publication Culture conference
Professor Martijn Warnier speaking at the Changing Publication Culture conference (Photo: Jan van der Heul)

Not all of these things are in his span of control. However, as a department head, he does have influence over both the publication culture and the manner in which the staff within his department are recognised for their work.

 

This led his department to adopt a specific philosophy:

“We do not focus on the number of publications, and would rather publish one good paper than several papers that are sub-par.“​ And also: “Our publication strategy is to publish high-quality papers in high-impact publication outlets”

 

Specifically, this involved rethinking how science was evaluated.

 

Therefore, wherever there is a process related to tenure or promotion, candidates are no longer expected to provide an extensive list of publications. Rather, the candidate is asked to identify the five papers they are most proud of​

 

And they need to explain, without using traditional metrics, why these five research articles.

 

Such an approach has immediate effects. Researchers no longer need to focus on multiple submission and review processes; there is less pressure to salami slice findings into several papers; chasing citations is of no importance. This all leaves more time for improving the quality of the research.

 

This direction positively noted by an external review of the department.

“The Committee found that promotions based on factors beyond fixed checklists seem to work well at TPM. The emphasis on the quality of publications rather than quantity is appropriate … It was noted that staff are encouraged to prioritise quality in their work.”

 

Professor Warnier’s department is just of the 40+ departments at the university. But it is part of a larger movement to rethink how researchers are evaluated – see for example the work of the Dutch funder NWO.  And it also demonstrates one healthy approach to how publication culture can be changed.

Towards a responsible Publication Culture – CoalitionS survey

CoalitionS has created a survey on to ask researchers for their input on how we, as a research community, can work towards a responsible publication culture.

 

Here you can find the link to the survey
(CWTS is coordinating, that is why the link is through Leiden University)

 

 

 

The publishers have already had their chance and gave (very critical) feedback, but now it is the turn of the researchers to speak out and give their input.

As a library we negotiate with a lot of publishers on behalf of our students, staff and researchers and we see many reasons for concern. It is clear to us that something  has to change. We wrote about this before in the blog about Changing Publication Culture at the TU Delft.

There will also be a conferance on April the 18th in Utrecht on ‘What do we want (or not want) from publishers?’ This event is organized with support from NWO, NFU and UNL and is an open forum to discuss what the academic sector wants from the publishing sector in safeguarding academic values in a just, equitable and open scholarly communication landscape. There are still some places available, so please join us if you wish to discuss this topic more in depth. 

Further details are available via: https://www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/en/current/events/what-do-we-want-or-not-want-from-publishers

Registration via: https://www.aanmelder.nl/conferenceapril18/registration

If the 18th does not suit your schedule, but you feel this topic should be discussed in your department and/ or faculty, reach out to us and we can discuss how to bring this information and the discussion to your department/ faculty.

If you have ideas, feedback or other comments I’d very much like to hear them. You can leave a comment or e-mail me directly.