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2 years ago in Research Culture By Manasa

Why is there often a "publish or perish" pressure, and how does it damage research culture?

Everyone talks about "publish or perish." Where does this pressure really come from—departments, funders, or ourselves? How does this mindset lead to problems like research misconduct, burnout, and a decline in truly innovative science?

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By Julius Dabbs Answered 1 year ago

The pressure is a systemic flaw stemming from using easily countable proxies (paper count, journal impact factor) for hard-to-measure quality in tenure, funding, and hiring decisions. It damages culture by: 1) Incentivizing quantity over quality, leading to "salami-sliced" publications and avoidance of risky, long-term projects. 2) Promoting hyper-competition over collaboration. 3) Contributing to burnout and mental health crises as researchers chase moving goalposts. 4) Creating fertile ground for misconduct like p-hacking and image manipulation to get "positive" results. The solution requires institutional courage to value diverse contributions (teaching, mentoring, public engagement) and assess research on its own merits through narrative statements, not just metrics. As individuals, we must resist internalizing this pressure and support reforms like the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

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