Need For Relevant Research

Research output is one of the major factors that reputed international agencies take into consideration while assessing universities...

- Dr Debapratim

Academicians have always been aware of the tired cliché ‘publish or perish’, but it is only in recent years that scholars in India are seen to have awaken to the significance of research outcomes in their individual progress. There is a noticeable change in the way they now perceive research, partly due to the fact that the universities have started putting increasing emphasis on them for appointment and career progression of the faculty members. For universities, publications are an important indicator of their research output, and world-over, performance of universities are evaluated majorly on this parameter.

Importance of research

The importance being put on research output for universities is nothing new. Even in the 19th century, the German Humboldtian ideal of the university argued that universities have a research role. But of late, there is a mad rush for publications in universities, not only in India but from world-over. According to Boston College’s Philip G Altbach and Hans de Wit, “Related is the sociological idea of isomorphism – that most academic institutions want to resemble the universities at the top of the academic pecking order – and thus seek to become research-intensive.”

Regulators’ role