Like athletes who resort to steroids, too many researchers are being tempted to engage in paper milling activities to artificially boost their output. So, what should an honest researcher do?
For example:
– over a 15 year period, a physicist might publish nearly 8 papers/year, while an historian might produce a paper every two years and a book every 5;
– a professor of medicine might publish 5 papers/year;
– similarly, a professor of psychology might publish 4 papers/year
– at the more junior classification of ‘lecturer’ they might take 4 years to publish 3 papers.
One of the most time intensive parts of research is coming up with ideas and collecting data, so paper milling researchers skip or shorten this step through plagiarism, fabrication and/or falsification. Further efficiencies can be gained through salami slicing or tweaking the topics without changing the underlying concept.
At an individual level, honest researchers can bring a more critical eye to the literature and strive to only publish with and cite trustworthy well-run publications. Be wary if anyone contacts you out of the blue inviting you to “collaborate” on a paper without needing to do any real work.
More: https://researchwhisperer.org/2024/10/29/can-you-publish-too-many-papers/
