THE SHIFT FROM “PUBLISH OR PERISH” TO VISIBLE OR VANISH”: THE TRAVAILS OF CAREER ADVANCEMENT IN UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA
Keywords:
The Shift, Publish or Perish, Visible or VANISH, Career Advancement, Universities in NigeriaAbstract
The study examined the evolving dynamics of academic career advancement in Nigerian universities, focusing on the shift from the traditional “publish or perish” model to the emerging “visible or vanish” paradigm. It explored the implications of this transition, highlighting the increasing emphasis on research visibility, citation impact, digital presence and global rankings in promotion criteria. While the visibility paradigm aims to elevate the international standing of Nigerian scholarship, it also presents significant challenges including technological and infrastructural deficits, predatory publishing, disciplinary inequities and local-global tensions. Drawing on the Academic Capitalism Theory, the study underscores how market-driven forces and institutional reforms are reshaping academic expectations and performance metrics. The findings reveal that, although visibility can enhance competitiveness and global integration, without adequate support and inclusive evaluation frameworks, it risks deepening inequalities and undermining meaningful academic growth. The study concludes with actionable recommendations to promote a balanced and sustainable approach to career advancement in Nigerian higher education.References
Adebayo, A. M., &Egbokhare, F. (2020).Academic burnout among university lecturers in Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Educational Research, 18(2), 55-72.
Adegbija, E. (2004). Language attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A sociolinguistic overview.
Multilingual Matters.
Adekola, A., & Baker, A. (2020).Challenges of Information and Communication Technology Adoption in Nigerian Universities.International Journal of Educational Management, 34(4), 883–896.
Aina, L. O. (2019). Challenges of social science and humanities research in Nigeria: A critical review. Journal of African Research in Business & Technology, 2019, Article ID 617408
Altbach, P. G., & de Wit, H. (2018).The challenge to academic freedom in a global context.International Higher Education, (94), 2–3.
Banda, F. (2015).Indigenous languages and scholarly communication in Africa.African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science, 25(1), 33–44.
Beall, J. (2016). Predatory journals: Ban predators from the scientific record.Nature, 534(7607), 326-331
Ezema, I. J. (2013). Open access to knowledge: The impact of Open Access initiatives on scholarly publishing in Africa. Library Hi Tech, 31(2), 354–368.
Garfield, E. (1996). What is the primordial reference for the phrase 'publish or perish'?.The Scientist, 10(12), 11.
Greenhaus, J. H., Callanan, G. A., &Godshalk, V. M. (2010).Career Management (4th ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Maslach, C., &Leiter, M. P. (2016).Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry.World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111.
Mouton, J., & Valentine, A. (2017). Towards fairer research evaluation: Recognizing diversity in scholarly contributions. Research Evaluation, 26(4), 264–273.
Mouton, J. (2018).Disciplinary differences in research productivity and visibility in African universities.African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 10(1), 1–10.
Mouton, J . ( 2020 ) . The challenge o f measuring t he social sciences and humanities.Scientometrics, 124(2), 959–983.
Nkwocha, I. A., &Ogbodo, J. N. (2020). Disciplinary disparities in academic career progression: The Nigerian university context. Nigerian Journal of Educational Administration and Planning, 20(2), 45–58.
National Universities Commission (NUC). (2019). Guidelines on promotion and research assessment in Nigerian universities. Abuja: NUC.
Nwagwu, W. E. (2013). Open access initiatives in Africa—Structure, incentives and disincentives.The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 39(1), 3–10.
Okebukola, P. (2020). Revitalizing the Nigerian university system for global competitiveness.NUC Lecture Series.
Okeke, T. C., &Eze, E. O. (2021). Stress and burnout among Nigerian university lecturers: Causes and coping strategies. International Journal of Educational Development, 81, 102346.
Olayiwola, S. (2020).Global rankings and Nigerian universities: The race to be visible. Higher Education Policy, 33(1), 47–65.
Olorunsola, E. O., &Iwu-Jaja, S. O. (2020).The challenges of predatory publishing in African universities.African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science, 30(1), 63–75.
Olowu, D. (2021). Fighting predatory publishing in Africa: Regulatory and institutional responses. African Journal of Academic Ethics, 9(1), 32–47.
Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Leech, N. L. (2005). Language barriers in research: Implications for academic publishing. Research in the Schools, 12(2), 30–38.
Oyewole, O. (2019). Balancing local relevance and global visibility: Challenges for Nigerian academics. Journal of Higher Education in Africa, 17(1), 45–62
Perkmann, M., Schildt, H., &Wadhwani, R. D. (2021).Academia's new visibility imperative: The metrics of impact. Organization Studies, 42(2), 181-199.
Salvagioni, D. A. J., Melanda, F. N., Mesas, A. E., González, A. D., Gabani, F. L., & Andrade, S.
M. (2017). Physical, psychological and occupational consequences of job burnout: A systematic review of prospective studies. PLoS ONE, 12(10), e0185781.
Sawyerr, A. (2004). African universities and the challenge of research capacity development.
JHEA/RESA, 2(1), 211-240.
Shen, C., &Björk, B.-C. (2015). 'Predatory' open access: A longitudinal study of article volumes and market characteristics. BMC Medicine, 13, 230.
Slaughter, S., & Leslie, L. L. (1997). Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Weller, M. (2011).The Digital Scholar: How Technology is Transforming Scholarly Practice.
London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.