Publish or Perish: The Dilemma of Overemphasizing Research and Publication in Higher Education

• In Event: Faculty Teaching, Evaluation, and Development Well-Being/Development

Abstract

Academics play a key role in the scientific research community. However, the overemphasis of research and publication in peer reviewed journals has created the phenomenon of ‘publish or perish’ in academia. This study has investigated two key research questions to provide empirical analysis, these are, ‘why do higher education institutions pay much attention to research and publications? And how does the pressure to publish in academia influence academics and their profession?’ We employed qualitative study, specifically structured interview with twenty academics with different professional levels in the sphere of social science and humanity. We established that the overemphasis of research and publications in higher education has relegated the quality of teaching and students’ supervision to the background.

Author

• Frank Okai Larbi, South China Normal University