Word: publishability
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...Publish or Perish...
...every junior faculty member at Harvard contemplates such bleak prospects. Yet almost every assistant professor here shares anxiety over an increasingly tight academic job market, the tug of war between teaching and research, and the driving need to publish, to gain prominence in his chosen field. The post of junior faculty member itself is something of an anomaly. Not yet established in the profession, the assistant professor stands below the senior faculty in status and in age. But he outranks the graduate student in intellectual achievement and position. As one assistant professor puts it. "Junior faculty are in an intellectual...
Beyond criticism of the structure of the tenure process, some junior and senior faculty question the criteria for granting tenure. These faculty believe the "publish or perish" syndrome erodes the morale of assistant professors and may affect the quality of the research itself. Even if a junior faculty member has a shelf full of his own books, reputation may not follow immediately. "In recent years, it has become apparent to all junior faculty that it doesn't matter how much they publish, the choice lies outside of department hands--it's simply impossible to publish enough...
...Richard Blandau, a respected fertility researcher at the University of Washington and the board's vice chairman, was more accusatory: "There is great concern that Dr. Steptoe has failed to publish and explain fully what he did. To many of us with great experience in the field, it still has not been proved that there was a test-tube baby. For all we know so far, the baby could have been conceived by natural means." According to an interview with Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Irv Kupcinet, Blandau further charged that Steptoe had "violated med ical ethics by selling...
Blandau later claimed that he had been misquoted in the press, but it seemed evident that he had given Steptoe and Edwards a bum rap. Though all scientists agree that Steptoe must document his claim, most do not regard his delay as a "failure to publish." Indeed, a scientific paper is usually not in print until from six months to a year after research is completed. Says Dr. Albert Decker of the New York Fertility Research Foundation, which is going ahead with its plans to present Steptoe with an award on Dec. 1: "You can't expect...