Part of becoming an academic researcher is the knowledge that you’ll be expected to continue your scholarly education throughout your career. Continuing courses that provide updated knowledge across your scope of expertise are one way of doing this, but another part of keeping a good scholarly reputation is to publish new research regularly.

Once your work is published, it’s not enough, though. That submission undergoes a rigorous evaluation through a variety of data collection factors known as bibliometrics. These combine quantitative and qualitative measures to give you an overall scholarly rating, but although the idea behind bibliometrics is intended to add fairness to the otherwise subjective idea of a reputation, it ends up increasing academic pressure and frustration, instead. When a scholar is pushed to the “publish or perish” point, it can tempt them to look towards publication practices that are not ethically sound or of the highest quality. Before it gets to this point, you must learn how to alleviate the pressure that comes with the push to publish your academics by the institution and your scientific field.

The Benefits of a Quality Scholarly Reputation

Scholarly reputation in the past was predominantly built on the scholar’s expertise in research. The reputability of the academic was correlated in parallel to the theories they presented and how well those theories were explained and defended through peer-reviewed journals, and then how those defenses were used to help build research in other publications.

But the Digital Age has taken how scholarly reputation is built, bringing it to a new level never seen before, in which many academics don’t realize or understand how to get a high rating or what is at stake for them if they are not able to capitalize on using bibliometrics and altmetrics to boost their ratings.

Scholars with high scholarly reputations are given access to perks and benefits that other academics covet, such as:

●      Better classroom teaching positions

●      Access to work in institutions with higher ratings

●      Travel reimbursements

●      Tenure track

●      Mentoring positions versus active instructional work

●      More time to research

●      Easier access to financial grants and funders

With so much to tempt the researcher if they have a high scholarly rating, it’s no wonder the pressure is on for them to publish.

The Challenges of High-Pressure Publishing Expectations

When you’re expected to publish new research, have high-quality classroom instruction, and still manage a personal life, the pressure is high.

Add to this pressure the ever-evolving changes in the research and publication process, and it’s a recipe for academics to burn out. Mental issues like high-stress, depression, and the results of chronic sleep deprivation are on the rise with the academic field.

This pressure must be alleviated before you end up with these stresses. To help reduce your time in the “publish or perish” section of your field, try these strategies:

●      Get to be an expert on bibliometrics and optimizing your paper for the ultimate impact on search engines

●      Combine your research results with co-authors, as this reduces your workload and increases your chances that your paper will be cited by other researchers

●      Avoid duplicate publication measures that are considered to be “legal” but not exactly ethical, like publishing your findings under another author’s name in order to double the citation indicators

●      Use electronic publication methods, like your own blog or social media, to encourage a wider audience

●      Choose research that naturally lends itself to a higher impact rating, such as economics, healthcare, and education

These strategies can reduce the workload you have, while still staying perfectly acceptable to the evolving scientific field of bibliometrics and the use of scholarly ratings.

Publish With Impactio for a Higher Impact

Another strategy that helps researchers work smarter, not harder, is to use a program that does the hard work for them, like Impactio. Impactio was designed for academic experts. With Impactio, you can easily track your work’s impact through citation indicators, connect with peers on the Impactio network, and build up your own academic profile to continually work to enhance your reputation yourself. Reduce the pressure of publishing by turning to Impactio as the program you trust.