Ask a Japanologist
Academic publications should broaden knowledge
Motivation to publish should be intrinsic, not extrinsic, to the writer
Why do most academic publications not broaden knowledge?
We often see data like “STUDY: 50% of research papers are never read by anyone other than their authors, referees and journal editors (Indiana University)” by @spectatorindex on Twitter (December 20, 2019).
This evidently refers to published papers in academic journals, which are supposed to be competitive. Then if we add all the unpublished research papers and ones assigned by teachers to graduate and undergraduate students all over the world, it is more like the old question in existentialism about whether the tree falling in the wilderness really happened or not.
Just considering reputable published journal papers, citations per paper, found in reputable source databases, have been estimated to average about 1.5. That would mean that for every paper with 1,500 citations, another 1,000 published papers are not cited in other publications at all.
Journal papers tend to be very specialized, and are often driven by factors extrinsic to advancing knowledge in their field. If a method learned in graduate school seems to have been applied correctly, it is difficult for a reviewer to reject the manuscript. The researchers who do cite papers can also be extrinsically motivated to bulk up their list of references without drawing from the papers in any depth.
An approach to solving the problems alluded to above is for researchers to be guided by a love of learning, and to publish papers that are interesting, relevant to contemporary society even indirectly, and which actually advance knowledge in a field. There is no need for writings, visual or auditory works, to necessarily be published in certain academic journals with a high so-called impact factor. For one thing, academic publishers welcome proposals for books or collections of papers.
Academics would do well to contribute to society by publishing journalistic articles or more basic articles free of jargon to turn specialist knowledge into generalist knowledge of wider application. Scholarly communication for mutual enrichment of peers or for mentoring learners may not count toward extrinsic numerical achievements, but it does provide needed discourse to support other scholars and to advance academic disciplines.
Higher ethical practices tend to raise the quality of academic institutions along with the relevance and importance of their documented endeavors. It is probably such factors intrinsic to the pursuit of greater knowledge that ultimately result in publications that are much read and cited. Writers in non-Western countries have some disadvantages in access to resources, but academic standards, ethics, and original accomplishments are still within reach.
The world of education offers nearly enough criteria to live by. Open Educational Resources represent an ethic of sharing with other researchers and educators. Scholars can thus advance knowledge by placing their academic works and pedagogical innovations online in open access repositories to share with peers and future generations of (necessarily lifelong) learners. These are not only words but a way of life, intrinsically motivated by the desire to advance and share knowledge.
In my case, most accomplishments have come after promotion to full professor in Japan, never mind the extrinsic publish-or-perish mentality. Citations are above average for journal authors, and having thousands of scholars around the world reading my various writings, never mind journal articles that reach no one, is most gratifying.
Academic and pedagogical works in various media are linked from my new homepage site at Humanities Commons. They also have a repository called CORE based at Columbia University where I have uploaded the files of 48 academic and creative works in 18 different categories so far in my profile. Academia Edu repository members may also find the backup useful of 79 articles and books so far, categorized into e-Learning, Japan, Bilingualism, and Academic Life.
