Prof, no one is reading you
Students at a University of Pennsylvania's Wharton
School lecture in San Francisco. Even if scholars agree
on the importance of publishing in the popular media,
the system plays against them. Publications in peer-
reviewed journals continue to be the key performance
indicator within academia: whether anyone reads them
is a secondary consideration. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
PUBLISHEDAPR 11, 2015, 5:52 AM SGT
    ...
An average academic journal article is read in its
entirety by about 10 people. To shape policy, professors
should start penning commentaries in popular media.
Asit K. Biswas And Julian Kirchherr
MANY of the world's most talented thinkers may be
university professors, but sadly most of them are not
shaping today's public debates or influencing policies.
Indeed, scholars often frown upon publishing in the
popular media. "Running an opinion editorial to share
my views with the public? Sounds like activism to me,"
a professor recently noted at a conference, hosted by
the University of Oxford.
The absence of professors from shaping public debates
and policies seems to have exacerbated in recent
years, particularly in social sciences.
In the 1930s and 1940s, 20 per cent of articles in the
prestigious The American Political Science Review
focused on policy recommendations. At the last count,
the share was down to a meagre 0.3 per cent.
Even debates among scholars do not seem to function
properly. Up to 1.5 million peer-reviewed articles are
published annually. However, many are ignored even
within scientific communities - 82 per cent of articles
published in humanities are not even cited once. No
one ever refers to 32 per cent of the peer-reviewed
articles in the social and 27 per cent in the natural
sciences.
If a paper is cited, this does not imply it has actually
been read. According to one estimate, only 20 per
cent of papers cited have actually been read. We
estimate that an average paper in a peer-reviewed
journal is read completely by no more than 10 people.
Hence, impacts of most peer-reviewed publications
even within the scientific community are minuscule.
Many scholars aspire to contribute to their discipline's
knowledge and to influence practitioners' decision-
making.
However, practitioners very rarely read articles
published in peer-reviewed journals. We know of no
senior policymaker or senior business leader who ever
read regularly any peer-reviewed papers in well-
recognised journals like Nature, Science or Lancet.
No wonder.
Most journals are difficult to access and prohibitively
expensive for anyone outside of academia.
Even if the current open-access movement becomes
more successful, the incomprehensible jargon and the
sheer volume and lengths of papers (often
unnecessary!) would still prevent practitioners
(including journalists) from reading and understanding
them.
Brevity is central. Many government leaders now
maintain a standing instruction to prepare a two-page
summary every morning of what the popular media
writes about them and their policies. In India, this was
practised by former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Many ministers in Canada insist on similar round-ups.
Governments in the Middle East now even request
summaries of discussions on new social media.
We are not aware of a single minister anywhere in the
world who has ever wanted regular summaries of
scientific publications in areas of their interest.
If academics want to have an impact on policymakers
and practitioners, they must consider popular media,
which has been ignored by them - although media
firms have developed many innovative business
models to help scholars reach out.
One effective model is Project Syndicate (PS) , a non-
profit organisation, which distributes commentary by
the world's thought leaders to more than 500
newspapers comprising 300 million readers in 154
countries. Any commentary accepted by PS may be
translated into up to 12 other languages and then
distributed globally to the entire network.
Even if scholars agree on the importance of publishing
in the popular media, the system plays against them.
In order to obtain tenure, scholars must churn out as
many peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals as
possible. Publications in (prestigious) peer-reviewed
journals continue to be the key performance indicator
within academia: whether anyone reads them becomes
a secondary consideration.
If the highest impact journal in the water field is
considered, it has only four subscribers in India with a
population of some 1.3 billion. Three years ago,
neither the water minister nor those three levels
below him had even heard of this journal. While a
publication in such a journal will bring kudos to a
professor, its impact on policymaking in India, where
water is a very critical issue, is zero.
It may be about time to re-assess scholars'
performance. For tenure and promotion considerations,
their impact on policy formulation and public debates
should also be assessed.
These publications often showcase the practical
relevance and potential application of the research
results to solve real world problems, and ability to
communicate in a simple, understandable manner.
Admittedly, impact is not guaranteed. Many
policymakers already have a reasonably exact idea on
the policy option they prefer.
The policy must, first and foremost, satisfy their
plethora of stakeholders. Very few decision-makers
look only for the most optimal economic, social,
environmental, technical, or political solution.
Those who look for scientific evidence would vastly
benefit from more publications by scholars in the
popular media. Slowly, this is recognised within
academia.
For instance, the National University of Singapore now
encourages its faculty to list op-eds in their profiles.
However, significantly more emphasis is still being
given to publications in so-called high-impact journals.
Change is happening but at snail's pace.
stopinion@sph.com.sg
Asit Biswas, a leading authority on environmental and
water policy, is distinguished visiting professor at the
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in the National
University of Singapore.
Julian Kirchherr is a doctoral researcher at the School of
Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford.
He was with McKinsey & Co before that, advising
governments in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
CC: lalasticlala, mynd44

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