“Quantity over Quality “ - Utter disdain for researchers

‘Do you think it’s possible to get rid of the dangerous “Quantity over Quality” policy that is silently practiced in research and academia.’

I started a completed course on Research Methodology and Technical Writing based on this topic of “utter disdain to researchers” - Quantity over Quality.

Video Series on Research Methodology by Javed GS, PhD on Posts

I also started giving talks on Enhancing Research Skills and Technical Writing Skills of the students and faculty together.

Talks and Seminars - Javed GS, PhD

I have conducted so many workshops and delivered many a talk on improving the quality of the work reported.

• Case 1: Good work done, reported in quality
• Case 2: Good work done, not reported with quality
• Case 3: Not good work, but reported.

Case 1 is the case with many top universities and institutes which enforce a high quality benchmark for the work done.

In Cases 2 & 3, the work done is not reported well and an effort has to be done on writing the paper and reporting the data well.

Quantity over Quality

Need for quantity for the various stake holders

1. M Tech Students - Guideline by the university or institution
2. Faculty - Promotion requirement
3. Faculty - Annual bonus and/or increment
4. Institution - Increase in Paper Count
5. University - Appraisal policy

For the above reasons, there came an opportunity for “Predatory Journals” to make paper publishing a business. To supplement it, they even started creating conferences for them, by the stones. The students for a false hope that the quality of their research work is publishable and the faculty members revived their publication count for the year. 

It has now come to a time, the legitimate journals and conferences are feeling the heat too. The journal count of one of the faculty candidates might be lower whereas their quality of work might be stellar. How do you decide?

My Opinion: If the policy makers in the research and academia take out the need for quantity and bring in the need for quality and societal impact, you will see the merit of quality rise to the summit.

Javed GS, PhD

Dr G S Javed is Founder, King Consultants-Education who coaches Masters and PhD students on Research Methodology and Technical Writing. He inculcates experiential learning and innovation in  his Design Thinking course. He enjoys travelling and meeting people.