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Handbook of Research on Scholarly Publishing and Research Methods chapter featured for Open Access

Publish or Perish? Differences in Promoting Publication and Encouraging Engagement

By IGI Global on Feb 16, 2015

Contributed by David Starr-Glass
(University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic)

The publication of academic research – literally making research results public – is central to the advancement of new knowledge created within a discipline. Through publication, the research process is made transparent, conclusions are opened up for critical examination, and new perspectives are shared with a wider community of interest. The thrust of this publishing effort is directed outwards: designed to invigorate the scholarly community, but also to make new considerations and findings accessible to other researchers, practitioners, and interested individuals outside the community. Sharing and providing the results of cutting-edge research to a wider audience have become particularly vital in the fast-paced information world in which we live.

There is, however, another understanding of publishing that is more inward-looking. Here, research is communicated only to a restricted and limited group of scholars; sometimes purposefully, sometimes because the literature and language used is inaccessible to non-group members. Inwardly-focused publication is designed to further define the scholarly group, to provide status for the writer within that group, and often to fulfill institutional requirements and expectations – for many, “Publish or Perish” remains a significant professional issue. The problem is that it is not only publication that becomes highly-specialized. The areas of research focus and the issues with which scholars are concerned also become increasingly circumscribed and limited by the self-perpetuating paradigm created by a distanced community of scholars. There is obviously a continuum, but all forms of scholarly publication and disciplinary research have to appreciate and balance these inward and outward forces.

In 1990, Ernest Boyer wrote his seminal work, Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. In this work, Boyer thoughtfully reconsidered the nature and intent of academic scholarship. In doing so he recognized three different forms that research might take: discovery, integration, and application. More significantly, he proposed the recognition and prioritization of a fourth type of research: teaching. He argued that teaching and learning were not only legitimate research domains, but that they should be strengthened and promoted in the academy through a new and creative kind of scholarly endeavor.

In his original work Boyer identified this fourth scholarly domain as “the scholarship of teaching.” Later, in an essay written before his death and published posthumously, he renamed this “the scholarship of sharing.” The shift in designation is highly significant. It clearly demonstrates Boyer’s thinking about the nature of teaching and learning. In “the scholarship of sharing” there is the recognition that academics must continue to communicate with their peers, but that they also need to share their knowledge of teaching and learning more widely – especially with their students, “the future scholars in the classroom.”

Boyer’s work highlights the tension in the scholarship of teaching and learning literature between the inward-looking and outward-looking nature of publication. This chapter explores that tension and tries to understand how publication can serve multiple readerships, become more inclusive, and in particular how it can provide a voice for the learner who is so often referred to – but strangely silent – in our scholarly writing.

Since its inception, the scholarship of teaching and learning has emphasized – indeed has mandated – publication in peer-reviewed literature. This may have been advantageous in furthering the discipline and consolidating the scholarly community; however, the danger is that this inwardly-directed publication effort can remove important scholarly efforts from a more open and public domain. In particular, “teaching and learning” is primarily about practice and praxis, not about a remote scholarship that is restricted to the teacher, or divorced from the learner. The chapter reviews these issues and concerns, posing the question: Is it not time to more seriously reconsider Boyer’s notion of “a scholarship of sharing”?

Three factors prompted the writing of this chapter. First, it is now twenty-five years since the publication of Ernest Boyer’s original work. This chapter is part of my personal celebration of the work, life, and legacy of this truly great visionary. Second, the chapter deals with issues that I, as a teacher and scholar, have been grappling with for many years. These issues are also pertinent to the professional lives of many academics and a wider discussion of them will hopefully help others, particularly first-time academic writers, college administrators, and publishers. Third, the opportunity to write this chapter was presented when Dr. Victor Wang decided to edit his insightful Handbook of Research on Scholarly Publishing and Research Methods, published by IGI Global. This provided the impetus to write the chapter and it is a pleasure to see that it has been included alongside the contributions of so many exemplary scholars in this exceptionally well-edited volume.

David Starr-Glass' chapter "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Promoting Publication or Encouraging Engagement?" is available for open access for 30 days through the month of March. View the full-text article here: https://www.igi-global.com/free-content/120332.

David Starr-Glass is a faculty member of the University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic, and a senior mentor with the International Programs (Prague Unit) of the State University of New York, Empire State College. He teaches a wide range of business related areas at the undergraduate level, in both blended and online distance learning formats. He also serves as the supervisor for undergraduate dissertations, mentoring final year students in designing and writing their work. David has a wide range of managerial and educational experience and has earned three master’s degrees: business administration (Notre Dame de Namur University, California), organizational psychology (Birkbeck College, University of London), and flexible education and online learning (University of Southern Queensland, Australia). David has contributed more than a dozen chapters to edited books and published about sixty peer-reviewed journal articles in the international business, online distance learning, and mentoring literature. When not in Prague, he lives in Jerusalem where he teaches economic and business related courses with a number of local colleges.

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