Monday, June 8, 2015

I'd heard the phrase "publish or perish." What does this mean? How do researchers tell people about their research?

Excellent question! Research is useless if it isn't be communicated. 

Researchers tell people about their research in a variety of ways. This blog is geared towards the general public and talks about how research is done. Group members also do a variety of other outreach and communication activities so you can all see what research is like in the real world.

We also communicate our research to the broader research community. We speak and present posters at conferences, discussing our work with other researchers. We also publish our work in academic journals. It is these publications that are the most important, since other researchers also review these works before they are published to make sure that everything is good. These journals are able to be referenced all over the world and are recognized as being trustworthy research that can be confidently referenced in the future.

The phrase "publish or perish" refers to life as an academic researcher, specifically those journal publications. Just as any worker is judged by his or her work, scientists are judged on their work. This performance is used to determine who will get funding to do more research and is used to determine which researchers gain tenure and advance, a position in which faculty have improved job security and more intellectual freedom. Researchers are judged by their publications, both the quality and quantity. Research institutions (such as universities) like to see that their researchers are leaders within their fields and driving thought forward.

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