If you are working towards your PhD or are a postdoc, you must have heard the phrase “publish or perish”.
Did you know that it was first used the late 1920s by Clarence Marsh Case (1928)? It was later defined by Professor Logan Wilson in his book The Academic Man: A Study in the Sociology of a Profession:
“The prevailing pragmatism forced upon the academic group is that one must write something and get it into print. Situational imperatives dictate a ‘publish or perish’ credo within the ranks” – Professor Logan Wilson.
But you must be wondering what this actually means for your research. I heard this phrase from my colleague at the very beginning of my research project and was not sure what it meant.
Is success in an academic career really dictated on what and how much you publish? Let me share my view.
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Definition of publish or perish in the academic context
I remember like it was yesterday that I looked it up in the Oxford Dictionary. I learnt that the aphorism “publish or perish” refers to the pressure that is put on researchers and academics by their institutions to publish their work in order to be seen as successful and progress through their academic careers.
I believe that was the time I decided to do my PhD thesis by publication, as I realised that to succeed in academia, I need to publish my work (although I was not pushed to do so just to be clear!).
Did this mean working against the clock to publish as much as possible? Yes… but it was my decision and ambition at that time that was driving this.
Did this mean that I missed out on other important activities, such as networking or making new friends? Yes… but at that time this seemed to be a good approach.
Did this mean that I got really anxious about and did not see the point in my work? Yes… but I brought this on myself.
Does this mean I would go the same path again? Definitely no!
Issues with publish or perish culture
My discussions with academics and researchers at other universities worldwide indicated that the “publish or perish” aphorism is annoyingly believed to be an unspoken truth of the academic life. Yet, remember that “publish or perish” is not necessarily a part of the academic culture at all universities or research organisations. For example, I have not experienced it the university I am currently associated with.
If you have experienced “publish or perish” pressure, I would like to hear from you. Remember that publishing your work is important – after all your track record is very likely to be considered when you apply for research and academic positions, or later when you apply for research grants.
But did you know that some of the articles do not get cited at all? There are, of course, disciplines where you are almost certain that you will be cited.
For example, in disciplines related to chemical engineering, chemistry, neuroscience or biology were uncited only 3-7% of articles published in 2012 were uncited after 5 years according to research undertaken by THE.
However, the part of uncited work in areas like automotive, aerospace and ocean engineering reached more than 40%. This percentage can get even higher for disciplines like literature and literary theory (>70% uncited), visual arts and performing arts (70%) or history (>50%).
With such a high fraction of uncited work, one may wonder whether this work has been read at all and whether it will influence the particular field of study.
I believe that the culture of “pub