Publish or perish in pursuit of prosperity: toward an assessment of journal listings, Dr Matthijs den Besten

Dr Matthijs den Besten
Operations, Information and Decisions Department
Montpellier Business School
m.den-besten@montpellier-bs.com

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate journal listings, which are commonly adopted as policy instrument by universities, and assess the alignment of the aims of the journals in these listings with research priorities regarding the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Its approach is to characterize the editorial focus of publication outlets through the application of a tool originally developed to qualify university curricula based on course syllabi. Preliminary findings point to an incongruence between university staff’s individual publication incentives and the societal imperative for research to contribute to achieving sustainable prosperity. These findings have immediate practical value both to the bodies responsible for the compilation of journal listings and universities and other institutions that rely on these listings to manage research as they strive to ensure that the listings encompass the whole gamut of research needed to inform the implementation of the UN goals.

Keywords: Assessment Framework, Sustainability Attributes, Policy Coherence, Keyword Analysis, Research Policy, Scholarly Publishing.