Scholarly publishings: trash or treasure?

Shirley Sullivan

Abstract
The ease of publishing in an electronic environment has stimulated growth in output of published scholarly material. The general perception in academia is that the material is of varying quality, but is produced in such bulk that valuable matter is hidden beneath dross. A literature review, followed by interviews conducted with ten academics, investigated whether it was acceptable to academics to introduce additional means to regulate the system of academic promotion and tenure beyond the conventional criterion of published research and, if so, of what such criteria would be composed. Substantial agreement emerged between the results of the literature review and the results of the interviews concerning the significant role played by scholarly publishing in the academic environment. It is unlikely any other means of assessing academic worth will replace research output.