Can we use COVID-19 to ease the pressure to publish?
The publish or perish dogma is doing more harm than good, especially now.
“Why did you want to become a researcher?”
From time to time, students interested in graduate studies probe me with this — their eyes hopeful and bright as they imagine solving society’s most pressing problems as top scientists. I love this question. It nudges me to reflect on my passion for academia as a medical student years ago, and my attitude towards science today, as a postdoctoral researcher.
I started researching mental health because I was fascinated by the mind and enthralled by the idea of alleviating the suffering of mental illness to change society for the better.
But as I navigate academic life, I now sometimes find myself removed from the dreams and desires that drove me in the arms of science. I still adore research, often there is nothing else I would rather do. Like many other early-career scientists though, I struggle with the pressure to be productive. Sometimes, the burden of increasing my publication rate to stay in academia chokes the enjoyment out of science.
How many peer-reviewed publications you churn out, in what class of journals, whether your citations balloon or not…
