Do it empirically, or don't do it at all? On the impact of 'publish or perish' on the research of ECR's
Authors: Göths Steffen 
Published: June 2024

As many scholars at all career stages have pointed out, the number of publications in communication studies has grown almost exponentially. At the same time, the number of scholars in the field has grown far more slowly. Early Career Researchers find themselves in the position of publishing as many articles as possible, usually in addition to working on the dissertation, because the number of publications is a key factor in obtaining a tenure-track position. Furthermore, these articles should be published in high-impact international journals. Besides the obvious tendency to focus on journal articles instead of writing books, all this affects research in three ways:1.International journals are published in English and are mostly based in the USA. This not only puts all non-native speakers at a distinct disadvantage, but also limits the research itself. In order to be published, many reviewers require relevance to the US context. As a result, original work on other countries, especially outside the classic Western hemisphere, is under pressure to justify itself and is even less likely to be published. In addition, there are concepts and ideas that simply do not translate well into English and therefore lose depth when translated into the so-called academic lingua franca. We should find ways of making academic work understandable in different languages without simply translating it into English.2.High-impact journals also have biases. Empirical work is favoured over theoretical work, quantitative methods over qualitative methods. Therefore, the pressure to publish in these journals has a direct impact on research designs and leads to a further decline in theoretical development in our field. Quantitative research also makes it possible to publish several articles from one dataset or to use the same research design for several different cases - whereas the argument of a theoretical article cannot usually be written in many different ways. Given the need for a high number of publications, empirical quantitative work seems a logical career choice. Additionally, the journal article as the standard form of publication does not give room to develop theoretical concepts in the same depth as a book would.3.The preference for quantitative research also promotes Critical Rationalism as the field's dominant epistemological philosophy. Applying the ideas of Critical Theory, for example, is often seen as something strange or even ideological. The potential of science to critically evaluate the hierarchical order of our society is lost in an epistemological monoculture.All of this affects not only the quality and diversity of research, but also our freedom to choose our own areas of research and research designs. As Early Career Researchers, we are in a limited position to challenge the order of publication described above. We do not set the rules for tenure committees, nor do we decide what kind of academic capital is valued in the community. However, we can think about building networks to share ideas and articles, translating articles from and into languages other than English, recommending journals and conferences that explicitly ask for research beyond the quantitative mainstream.