Publication: An Academic Responsibility

Learning is a dynamic process, and teaching and learning are inseparable. Learning also entails understanding how concepts change, how some concepts are no longer relevant and how previously unrelated concepts might currently be relevant. It is imperative that academicians teach their pupils the necessity to be the analytical, thinking individuals involved in a continuous process of learning (Cullen et al., 2018). By publishing articles, teachers can spread this extensive and profound learning. Moreover, an academician becomes well-versed in the fundamentals of the field, study design, and statistics by publishing articles. All these steps will support logical thought. A scholar who disregards this can never be up to date and cannot measure up to be a good scholar or in the case of clinical disciplines, a good practitioner (Cullen et al., 2018; Rastogi et al., 2019).

An organised explanation of the hypothesis, evidence, and conclusions in a scientific publication is meant to educate the audience. Research is not considered complete unless it is published or documented. The advancement of contemporary research in which the findings of one scientist are built upon those of others depends on the publication of papers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, a journal founded by Henry Oldenburg of the British Royal Society, is credited with founding scholarly and scientific publications. The journal’s objectives were to document novel contributions to knowledge and motivate scientists to “speak” with one another. The distribution of observations and conclusions is aided by the documentation of research efforts and its subsequent publishing (Atkinson, 1998; Singhal & Kalra, 2021).

Research published in a peer-reviewed publication not only verifies the findings and increases the authors’ confidence, but also recognises the author, department, university, and institution on a national and worldwide scale. Although these are the purported high standards of academic responsibility, it is often not understood or applied (Singhal & Kalra, 2021).

Unfortunately, in certain organisations, employers’ specialised employment requirements are sometimes the strongest justification for publication. Promotion to an academic post and increased chances of success while applying for research grants are two such examples. The proverb “Publish or perish,” which means “publish your research or lose your identity,” emphasises the significance of publication in a career (Rawat & Meena, 2014). This arguably punitive policy in India has given rise to a large number of research ethics violations and poorly designed studies. Additionally, authorships based on hierarchical tenets and “friendship” also adds to the confusion surrounding publications (Mlinarić, Horvat, & Šupak Smolčić, 2017).

A well-conducted study entails numerous synchronised procedures. The hypothesis is the first step, followed by choosing the best study design, carrying out the investigation, gathering and analysing data, and publishing the results (Gelling, 2015). Ethics applies to not only the way the study is conducted but also to the publication process. Author of a publication is stated to be engaging in research fraud or scientific misconduct if the publication presents results and makes conclusions based on modified data. A study titled “Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis” was recently retracted by Lancet because the authors were unable to guarantee the accuracy of the data supporting this observational study (Mehra, Desai, Ruschitzka, & Patel, 2020).

There are groups that create criteria and offer advice to assist writers, editors, and reviewers. The goal is to produce and distribute replicable, unbiased, clear, and accurate research publications. International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (ICMJE) is one of the organisations that deals with publication ethics (“Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: Writing and editing for biomedical publication,” 2010). Others include, The World Medical Editors Association (WAME), The COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) (Wager, 2012; Winker et al., 2015).

A group of medical journal editors founded the ICMJE in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada. Recommendations issued by ICMJE are mainly intended for authors preparing to submit their work to ICMJE member journals (“Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: Writing and editing for biomedical publication,” 2010). The duties and roles of the authors, contributors, reviewers, and editors are covered in these suggestions. Additionally covered and drafted are the procedures for preparing and submitting manuscripts as well as editorial concerns pertaining to publication in medical journals. ICMJE created the standard guidelines for manuscript submission to biomedical journals, which are adhered to by majority of journals.

The frequency of articles that are published in peer-reviewed journals and indexed in bibliographic databases serve as a measure for a profession’s scientific output (Haven, Bouter, Smulders, & Tijdink, 2019; Quaia & Vernuccio, 2022). This research output can be applied to physiotherapy to improve current understanding and create guidelines for a successful therapeutic practise (Jesus, Gianola, Castellini, Colquhoun, & Brooks, 2020). Consequently, the creation of baseline indicators in clinical practise and knowledge in physiotherapy is made possible by the study of research output (Hariohm, Prakash, & Saravankumar, 2015). The examination of scientific publications enables the establishment of baseline metrics in a particular discipline (Jesus et al., 2020).

Numerous studies examined the global scientific output produced by physiotherapists. Some of these investigations confined themselves to document reviews, while others used electronic searches. Just three studies, two of which were restricted to the Medline database have been conducted to determine the research productivity of Indian physiotherapists in the recent past (Jesus et al., 2020). The third considered Web of Science (WoS) from Clarivate Analytics, arguably the world’s best platform for searching and analysing scientific citations can be utilised as a dataset as well as a research tool. It was noted that with an exception of 2017 and 2018, Indian physiotherapists have been producing more scientific work since 1999, indicating an upward trend in their performance (Subbarayalu et al., 2020). The findings revealed that Indian physiotherapists primarily worked with Indian institutions and published in journals with a national focus. Even though many publications are of excellent quality, more scientific articles are required to be published in order to raise the average and high number of citations. To enhance their scientific output, it is advisable for the Indian physiotherapists to broaden their overseas research collaborations (Jesus et al., 2020)

Research papers reflect not just the academic image of an individual but also the institution and the country, thus highlighting the need for their reliability. One of the widely recognised metrics taken into account for a variety of academic reasons such as, institutional ranking, faculty appointment and promotion, and research degree awarding, is the quantity of research articles published in reputable journals (Kelly, Sadeghieh, & Adeli, 2014). Publications in questionable or subpar journals reflect poorly, causing long-term harm to one’s reputation and academic standing. The issue of predatory, questionable, or subpar journals has drawn significant attention worldwide.

University Grants Commission (UGC) stated that India’s reputation has suffered due to high percentage of research articles published in low-quality publications. UGC-CARE (Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics) has taken on the task of creating the “UGC-CARE Reference List of Quality Journals” (referred to as the “UGC-CARE List”) to improve the current state of affairs (Kelly et al., 2014). Journals that are indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus are included in the UGC-CARE list. In addition to this, a list of Indian journals has been compiled, with a focus on aspects that pertain primarily to India which the international journals may be reluctant to publish (Kelly et al., 2014).

Faculty members are also responsible for curriculum development. Without a firm grasp on the prevailing research, curriculum development is bound to be sketchy and potentially out of context. Likewise, postgraduate students aspiring to be academicians must inoculate a culture of research and publications, to be productive in their chosen career. The term “publish or perish” is more relevant now than ever with large amount of knowledge and confusing myriad of possibilities available for clinicians to choose from, for following evidence based practice.

Academicians must choose to publish rather than being coerced to publish for the purpose of policy. Only then will the low quality of articles and other publication related ethical issues be effectively controlled.