Defining Scholarly Excellence
Dr. Ayman El Tarabishy and Dr. Herman Aguinis examine what it means to achieve 'scholarship excellence and impact' for tenure and promotion. Most universities rely on publication in high-quality journals, citation metrics, and expert evaluations; however, there is no standardized agreement on what constitutes a 'high-quality' journal.
The Problem with Journal Lists
Many schools currently use lists like the UT-Dallas or FT-50 to make critical career decisions. Dr. Aguinis notes several issues with this approach:
* Outdated Data: The UT-Dallas list is based on citation data from the late 1990s, which does not reflect the current impact of many journals.
* Arbitrary Criteria: The FT-50 list relies on reputation surveys and subjective choices made by journalists, often influenced by the self-interest of business school deans seeking to improve rankings.
* Misaligned Goals: Pushing faculty to publish in specific journals shifts the focus from making meaningful societal contributions to simply 'getting a hit' to satisfy administrative metrics.
Impact Factors vs. Article Impact
Dr. Aguinis warns against using journal impact factors as a proxy for individual article quality. He explains that:
* Impact factor is a journal-level measure, not an article-level measure.
* A small minority of articles in top journals generate the majority of their citations.
* Evaluating researchers based on journal-level averages leads to significant assessment errors.
Strategies for True Impact
To improve research impact, Dr. Aguinis suggests that universities and researchers shift their focus toward a broader stakeholder approach, including students, other researchers, and society at large. He recommends:
- Treating scholarly impact as a continuous journey rather than a destination.
- Planning for impact before, during, and after the research process.
- Creating a personal impact development plan to ensure work remains relevant and valuable to society.