Publish or Perish

Publish or Perish

Russian perspective

Publish and Perish ?

• Two examples supporting this view

Sheets of paper covered with words pile up in archives sadder than cemeteries, because no one ever visits them, not even on All Souls' Day. Culture is perishing in overproduction, in an avalanche of words, in the madness of quantity … billions of words spewed out by our universities

Milan Kundera. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, 1984

What We Are Looking For?

• The reader and acknowledgement?• Money and stability?• Joy of writing and publishing the

manuscript?– Fun of work to survive in competitive

environment– Compulsive scribbling that starts as

social and evolves into psychological syndrome

What We Are Looking For?

•Of choosing to be an academic (to do both teaching and research)•Are we talking about pure monetary

benefits?•Are we taking about domestic incentives

only?

•Of making the choice: more teaching or more research)?

•Of making the choice: to be domestic or international?

What We Are Looking For?• Where lie major differences with

international approach?

– Persistent well rooted features that will not change overnight

• Could two systems be accommodated in personal research career?

• Can we speak about relevant strategies?

To what extent it relates to other post communist

countries?

How Current State of Events Emerged ?

Soviet Research System

• Academy of Sciences• High Education (University)

Science• Industrial Science• Factory Science

Soviet Research System(HR)



60% of academic degree holders

Soviet Research System(Co-specialized Assets)



Soviet Research System(Research Incentives for

University Science)Academy of Sciences• High Education (University)

ScienceIndustrial ScienceFactory ScienceWe do not focus on separate research

organizations

Research Incentives for the Soviet University Science

• Publications are crucial:– to move up the career ladder

through degree and title applications

– to retain jobtwo-tiered research degree and teaching title system


Publications• To move up the career ladder

(mandatory)•through degree and title applications•Two-tiered hierarchy of research

degrees– Candidate of Sciences (papers)– Doctor of Sciences (book and papers

(pre-candidate publications expire))


Publications• To move up career ladder

(mandatory)•Two-tiered teaching title system

– Dotzent (“half professor”) (candidate degree + papers + text books/study manuals etc.)

– Professor (full professor) (doctor degree + papers + text books/study manuals etc.)

Does it conform to the UK system?


• Publications– To retain job (strongly recommended)

• Dotzent (papers + text books/study manuals etc.)• Professor (papers + books + text books/study

manuals)

• Business research contracts (hozdogovora) and government finance (gosbudget)– To retain job (important)– Important source of income

And what about refereed journals?

And What About Refereed Journals?

They existed (and still exist) and valued BUT

• There were no universities ratings• Editors (members of the board)

actually took decision to accept paper

• Institutional journals

And what about money?


Opportunity costs to be an academic

• Importance for career (promotion and retention) (1960s -1980s)– Dotzent’s salary - 320 roubles

• Average salary aprx. 127 roubles – 1975, 195 roubles – 1986 (*)

• bus driver (1980s) – 320 - 400 roubles, • chief director in large organization (actually) (1980s)-

up to 700 roubles + exclusive non-monetary benefits

– Professor’s salary (450 roubles, chair + 50) + some exclusive non-monetary benefits (before mid 1970s)

(*) Source: «CCCР в цифрах 1975», «Народное хозяйство СССР в 1986»


Opportunity costs to be academic

• Business research contracts and government finance– Up to half of the salary

What happened next …

Research Incentives Erosion in the Late 1980s – Beginning 1990s

Two-tiered research degree system•Candidate of Sciences (business journals and down to local daily newspapers, non-refereed journals, working papers as marketing niche targeted degree applicants)

•Doctor of Sciences (book and papers (see above) could been awarded without thesis (based on research report)

And two-tiered hierarchy of titles …

Two-tiered teaching title system

•Dotzent (could be given without candidate degree + papers + text books/study manuals etc.)

•Professor (could be given without doctor decree so called “Cold professor”)

Research Incentives Erosion in the Late 1980s – Beginning 1990s

Research Incentives for Russian University Science

Positive measures• Papers:

– to discontinue counting newspaper publications for degree applications

– to discontinue counting short publications for title applicants

and doubtful ones …

Countermeasures


• Papers: to offset decrease in quality by increase in quantity (inflation of publications)– Requirements vary between

organizations and councils– example: candidate degree applicant

from a national republic has published for 4 years 220 pages in AEC equivalent

Countermeasures


• Papers: introduction of so called VAK list – list of journals which are authorized to publish papers needed for doctor of sciences application

• Example of an attempt coping with new challenges using old means

Be not confused! List of VAK does not mean refereed journals– And what about books …

Countermeasures


• Books: the same as with papers– Books continue to be appreciated higher

than papers for academic career (e.g. “cold professors” positions and position retention)

– Easy money from not exacting text books readers primarily students and … sometimes their professors

Quick compilation of cheap, often low quality products

This Is the Book

Macroeconomics

And what about money?


• Where money comes from ?

In reverse order …


• No longer business contracts• Government finance

– Marginal/ImportantWhat options we have:– Individual grants (National foundations, regional)

• offensive amount• cross-subsidization is often

– Non-competitive state budget finance• Marginal for ordinary researchers (fraction of base salary)

– Financing for research teams via competition• kickbacks/cross-subsidization are typical• equals up to salary typically less• what about research quality

Science Versus Imitation


• Importance for career (promotion and retention)– Professor’s remuneration in St.Petersburg

University of Economics and Finance - 11000 roubles, ($380), average salary in St.Petersburg – 9300 roubles ($320), with bus driver’s salary being 15000 (aprx. $520)

– University graduate in international consultancy firm - in 2 years $3400 (100000 roubles), Russian CFO in foreign company (Moscow) average salary – aprx. $8000 (232000 roubles) + package

Two Major Points of Difference

• Lower incentives/level of competition

• Press of bare quantity (printed pages) vs. yoke of quality/quantity (refereed journals)

Some Strategic Implications

The first strategy: passiveThe second strategy: outward

orientedThe third strategy: of active

accommodation or combined strategy


The third strategy: of active accommodation or combined strategy

To control two exposures:• Internal: international publications are

labor intensive but could be not much appreciated in accessing your performance in domestic university for degree and title application

• External: domestic quantitative approach could undermine ability to compete internationally


The third strategy: of active accommodation or combined strategy

Is it feasible? If to turn basic shortage of the system into your personal advantage

– Positive side of minor importance of domestic refereed journals

• If researcher avoids compulsive scribbling (important for the first strategy as well)


If researcher avoids compulsive scribbling. Is it avoidable?

• Good research first• Leverage of good research results

in a number of publications rather then baking fast academic food

• Restrain “to be the first in the race” (Modesty)


Restrain to be the first in the race:• only minimum required number of

publications actually counts for successful degree application

• then target:– International refereed journals – domestic journals with ambitious

editors that reader-orientedExamples supporting the view

Conclusive Remarks: Opportunity Costs of Research

and Teaching•Of sacrificing research for teaching

and vise versa (case of foreign EMBA program in Russia)•Does the dilemma exists for research

and teaching in macroeconomics in your university?

Publish or Perish

Documents

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