Unraveling issues behind ISI misconceptions: An empirical study on the practical effects of academic publication

2013 IJRSE – Volume 2 Issue 3

Author/s:

Ching, Gregory S.*
Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC (gregory_ching@yahoo.com)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9148-0019

Abstract:

Much concern on publications is seen in the academe for the past ten years. The notion of publish or perish has been troubling many faculties and scholars. More specifically, publishing in journals included in the Thomson Reuters’ ISI Web of Science. Similarly in Taiwan, many are concerned with the actual effects such phenomenon. To better understand this issue, the current paper shall showcase the findings of an empirical study. A survey with regards to various publication implications are distributed randomly to 200 faculties and graduate students. A total of 95 valid returns were analyzed. Results indicate that the highest or the most important factor in the various academic setting and activities is the Number of publications indexed in ISI and the Number of publications indexed in Taiwan Citation Indexes. In sum, with ISI indexed journals playing a major role in academic key performance indicators, alternatives are being suggested and considered in order to make the evaluations more holistic and fair.

Keywords: academic publication; journal citation database; ISI; Science and non-Science; academic fields

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2012.288

*Corresponding Author