Publish or Perish

Abstract

There are few more familiar aphorisms in the academic community than “publish or perish.” Venerated by many and dreaded by more, this phenomenon is the subject of the authors’ essay. Here they consider the publish or perish principle that has come to characterize life at many business schools. They explain when and why it began and suggest reasons for its persistence. This exercise elicits questions that appear as relatively neglected but are integral to our profession, namely, the effect of publish or perish on the creativity, intellectual lives, morale, and psychological and emotional states of faculty.