More Reasons to Publish
By George Wallerstein, E. J. Behrman
To the Editor:
Sharon Kaye’s article in the May–June issue of Academe (“Why Publish?”) identifies competition as an important reason to publish even when publications are not required for promotion and tenure. A second reason is self-education.
During my forty years as a faculty astronomer, I had ample opportunity to observe stars and galaxies with telescopes at my own institution and with those at national facilities. As the technology of observational equipment has improved, the number of observable stars has increased enormously. It is one thing to obtain new data; understanding those data and explaining them to one’s colleagues through publication is the hard part.
Only through research have I learned about newly developing subfields within my profession. In preparing new courses and updating ones with old titles, I have found that the new knowledge I gained through research has been vital.
Analyzing research in preparation for publication forces one to keep up with the new ideas that are relevant to the field. The system of editors and referees of major journals requires that authors follow the literature and explain their own contribution clearly.
As an academic, your most interesting activity may still be the discovery of new facts and ideas within your profession. Your students will benefit from your new knowledge, both through your lectures and through your research advising.
And finally, yes, the older I get the tougher the competition becomes— so the harder I have to try to improve my research and the teaching that depends on it.
George Wallerstein
(Astronomy)
University of Washington
To the Editor:
Sharon Kaye gives a number of motivations for publishing but does not consider what is surely every scholar’s hope: in the words of Greek historian Thucydides, “My history has been composed to be an everlasting possession, not the show-piece of an hour.”
E. J. Behrman
(Biochemistry)
Ohio State University
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