Sara Dolnicar’s Post

I share your view regarding international rankings—especially QS—which do not have a very good reputation within the academic community. About the maxim “publish or perish,” I believe it is a controversial one. Doctoral students are subjected to significant stress in order to achieve scientific publications in indexed journals. This has not been my case; I had the honor of writing an extensive doctoral dissertation, thanks to the trust of my supervising professor. However, I’m now facing a dilemma: if I don’t publish, it will be hard to find a university position in Europe or the United States. I don’t see it as something negative; it is simply a requirement that will help me improve day by day. On the other hand, in the Latin American context, there are universities that refuse to publish in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals (they stubbornly believe that Scopus-indexed journals promote a science for the few). On this side of the hemisphere, professors write self-endorsed books to advance in their academic careers. We have universities with high levels of academic and editorial endogamy, which is quite problematic. Is there perhaps a middle ground in the “publish or perish” debate? I am very interested in your position.

thanks for this Sara!