Downside of pressure to publish

I REFER to your report “Union wants fair probe of researchers” (The Star, June 19) on some local researchers being investigated for possible research fraud. The report quoted an academic asking if the deed could be a response to the unreasonable amount of pressure to publish.

Universities are under public scrutiny nowadays over their performance in international university rankings. Among the key indicators in these rankings are the number of peer-reviewed publications achieved by universities and prominence of their academics in the scientific world. Hence, the academics are under pressure to publish articles in leading journals as part of their key performance index (KPI). This situation is not new and it is also prevalent in many universities worldwide.