Publish or perish: time for a rethink?

Abstract

The aphorism ‘publish or perish’ has been gaining traction in Academia at an accelerated rate, resulting in more than 1.8 million articles published every year. This has led to newer publishing models, where researchers pay to publish, so that readers globally have free, unlimited access to articles. The rationale for this phenomenon is the benefit of faster and greater knowledge for researchers, readers and the society. This has unintended consequences. Much of the published research is proven to have limited value. Worse, the immense pressure on medical teachers and researchers to publish to maintain respect and status in their community forces some to unethical practices, while fueling a lucrative publication business with large profit margins. This explosive growth in the number of journals published, is producing a genre of predatory journals who do not maintain requisite quality and ethical standards. This deluge of information has prompted some institutions to initiate measures to level the playing field, ensuring that research publication brings value, instituting a check on unethical practices, and perhaps most importantly delinking teaching and research. Much more needs to be done.