By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In a Special Report on the academic publishing crisis, Steve Fuller outlines how imperfections and gaming in the academic citation market raise important questions over its use in choosing which researchers to push up the career ladder. Jenny J Lee and Alma Maldonado-Maldonado outline the dangers of differentiating research universities from teaching universities, with the most concerning being the effect on social and economic inequality, while Pushkar calls on the Indian government to make research and publishing optional rather than compulsory for teachers across India’s higher education sector except for those at research institutions.
   In Commentary, Roger Y Chao Jr and Stig Arne Skjerven anticipate re-energised efforts in the Asia-Pacific region to enhance higher education access, quality and mobility with the Tokyo Recognition Convention coming into force next year. Hazri Jamil, Wan Chang Da and Ooi Poh Ling say Malaysia’s transformation from a sending country into a destination country for international students needs an additional focus on internationalisation-at-home policies to widen the benefits to all students. And Claudia Frittelli says findings show that African academic diaspora linkage programmes leverage additional funds and expertise, and African governments should recognise the benefits of both.
   In Features, Yojana Sharma reports on evidence emerging that academics in Xinjiang have disappeared after major purges of the region’s universities in Beijing’s crackdown on the Uighur Muslim population. Wagdy Sawahel reports that Iranian universities are rapidly expanding their branches in Sub-Saharan Africa, which higher education experts see either as enhancing academia or an attempt to expand Iran’s soft power and influence. And Sharon Dell reports on Professor Adekeye Adebajo’s contention that transformation of South African universities will have to be fought for in what is likely to be a “long and tortuous battle”. More...