Non-Publishers in European Universities: An Empirical Approach

By Marek Kwiek. In a traditional account of the scientific community, full-time academics employed in European universities who do not produce papers, books or book chapters, should not be regarded as part of the scientific community. Following Warren O. Hagstrom’s claim in The Scientific Community (1965), published articles and books are “the most important channel of communication from the standpoint of the larger community. Those who do not contribute at all through this channel cannot be considered scientists”. Logan Wilson (1942) argued that “in the academic scheme of things results unpublished are little better than those never achieved”. From this perspective, no publications mean no research. Read more...