On Wednesday 21 October, the Global Business School Network (GBSN) will host a webinar with a panel of experts offering guidance on how to develop effective research and publishing strategies against the backdrop of geopolitical upheaval and confusion surrounding the impact question. The intention is to spark a debate around the potential of a ‘paradigm shift’ in the recognition of scholarly communication outputs – and how researchers and business school leaders alike can take advantage of new modes of research evaluation.
In a recent article for GBSN, I argued that a paradigm shift was not only necessary to tackle inequalities in publishing outcomes, but also possible by using alternative lenses through which to view quality, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With few, if any of these goals due to be met by 2030, the rumour is that the UN will extend the SDGs with some changes so that the agenda that has been adopted so widely can continue as climate change and sustainability issues continue to increase in importance.
Mixed methods
What is crucial in this debate is the positive role that can be played by business schools and other organizations in the Global South, as not only are they the ones embedded in the areas most affected by these issues, they are also best placed to tackle them, and a paradigm shift in favor of those approaches will benefit them accordingly.
Of course, there are other considerations that also need to be added into the mix – optimizing journal publication choices, research visibility, fighting predatory publishing practices, better understanding the impact of open access models – as well as the ever-looming impact of AI. As such, the webinar on October 21st should offer a great opportunity to dive into these issues in more depth.
New perspectives
While the themes above will be familiar to researchers and university administrators alike, the key point is that there is genuine puzzlement about how to address them. We are really in a ‘vuca’ moment, where volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity mean that decision-making and strategy are so much harder to implement with any degree of confidence. Many would argue that this is the time to back yourself and your institution in your purpose and manifest what you want to achieve in spite of the prevailing chaos, rather than as a result of it. However, people will inevitably ask: what does this actually look like?
Hopefully the panel for the webinar on the 21st will provide some wisdom in this regard – and there is a huge amount of experience to draw from. The panel includes:
– Moses Acquaah, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of African Business, and Professor of Business Administration at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
– Anne-Wil Harzing, Creator, Publish or Perish, and Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University
– Zhike Lei, Editor, Academy of Management Inside Organizations, and Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at the IMD Business School
– Simon Linacre, Chief Commercial Officer, Cabells
Insights from the expert panelists will focus on geopolitical shifts and their implications for research, optimizing journal publication choices amid uncertainty and increasing research visibility in different ways. This and wider discussion should help everyone to navigate the host of new challenges impacting on everyone’s academic lives.
