Publishing work a top priority for professors

Working in well over 100 different departments varying from molecular biology to musicology, UCLA professors still have one thing in common: They must publish.

Producing published work is absolutely essential for UCLA professors, said English Professor Matthew Fisher, a junior faculty member who is working on his first article to be published.

Geography Professor Glen MacDonald said publishing is about contributing ideas that could inspire others in the field.

“People that are doing similar research can read it and can build on it … (or) it might spur someone to do a whole new line of research,” he said.

The push to publish, Fisher said, has to do not only with sharing ideas, but with validating them.

“The thinking is that it’s only by publishing a book that the larger academic community has the opportunity to offer … an opinion about (a professor’s) work,” Fisher said.

Publishing is also necessary for getting tenure, which protects a professor’s spot at a university, said Adriana Manago, a psychology graduate student who said she will become a professor this summer.

“It’s really critical for advancing in your career to publish,” she said.

Fisher said junior faculty are expected to publish at least one book and one or two peer-reviewed articles before they are up for tenure, but he said it is an “implicit understanding,” not an official quota.

The amount of work one needs to publish, though, depends on one’s department, said Daniel Blumstein, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

Blumstein said getting tenure at UCLA is “a really serious process,” but once achieved, professors have more freedom in setting their publishing pace, as long as they are accomplished.

“(After tenure) some people slow down, some people speed up, but you can slow down and not get fired, if you have made substantial contributions,” Blumstein said.

But even after tenure, professors at top universities must continue publishing, Fisher said.

Getting work published, in addition to teaching responsibilities, can be a balancing act, MacDonald said.

“You have some people who, to keep their research up, don’t put as much time into their teaching,” he said.

However, it is possible to do both well, he said.

Research opportunities allow some students to be part of the publishing process, Blumstein said. Because of this, he said, he believes publishing contributes to, rather than detracts from, professors’ roles as instructors.

“I think it’s a win-win ““ the thing that students get coming to UCLA is not only to be taught by people who are creating knowledge, but to participate in creating knowledge,” he said.

A recent report from a university-publishing task force, “Publishing Needs and Opportunities at the University of California,” found that with UC budget troubles and changes in the publishing world, academic publishing is becoming more of a struggle.

But Fisher said the hardest part of getting published is still the initial work, not the publishing process itself.

“The issue is producing enough publishable work, rather than finding outlets for it,” he said.

Manago said once professors submit their work to be published, the work is reviewed by peers in their field, which she said is the hardest part of the process, but necessary.

“It’s a really good way for the field to ensure the quality of the work,” she said.

Though the peer review can be difficult, it is a fair process, said MacDonald, who has had 120 peer-reviewed articles published.

“If you’re doing good research and you’re using current techniques and addressing topics of general interest … you’ll be able to get through the peer review,” he said.

However, all professors experience a few cases of rejection in their careers when trying to publish articles, MacDonald added.

“There are always cases where, whether it’s true or not … one or both of the editors feels there’s something lacking in the article, and you get rejected,” he said.

A large research university like UCLA is a helpful place to publish from, Manago said, because of its extensive research resources.

Though the pressure to publish can be heavy, Fisher said most professors are happy to deal with it.

“We get to do what we love,” he said.

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