Discipline and Rebellion: How 'Publication' Affect Academic Master's Students' Research Aspirations

• In Event: Navigating Access, Retention, and Success: Insights into Student Outcomes

Proposal

Publishing stories of 30 master's students are collected through interviews and online logs, and conducted coding analysis based on grounded theory. The results indicate that master's students exhibit different psychological states at different stages of paper publication, gradually seeking rebellion from receiving discipline, and their research aspirations continue to dissipate. During the topic selection period, master's students expressed acceptance and agreement with the publication guidelines, but their research experience began to differentiate under different guidance styles. During the writing period, the improvement of scientific research and comprehensive abilities demonstrated the positive function of discipline. However, faced with the pressure of publication, many students accumulated negative emotions and had no choice but to resort to temporary tricks such as shoddy production. During the submission period, the success or failure of publication brings two levels of psychological experience to master's students, while some "unwritten rules" make them hesitate in pursuing academic careers and choose to rebel or escape. It is found that publication pressure, publication significance, and publication ecology interact with the research ability, experience, and cognition of master's students, ultimately affecting their research aspirations. The current "publication" deviates from the original intention of academic discipline, and its utilitarian significance is greater, publishing has become a major source of pressure in interpersonal interactions among master's students, and their research experience tends to be negative, and publishing has a negative impact on the research cognition of many master's students, and on the contrary, it stifles their aspirations in scientific research. Therefore, it is necessary to get rid of the quagmire of "publication" in graduate education. "Publication" is neither a necessary requirement for master's education, nor can it fully represent the quality of graduate education, nor is it sufficient for screening scientific research talents.

Authors

• Ping Lang, Huazhong University of Science and Technology‌

• JUNYING LIU, CHINA UNIVERSITY OF GEOSCIENCES, WUHAN