Online roundtable discussion
Speaker: Professor Giorgi Tavadze
East European University, Georgia
Chair: Dr Søren Bengtsen, Aarhus University, PaTHES Chair
November 9, 2021
at 15.00-16.00 Central European Time (CET)
There will be a brief 20-30 mins presentation by Dr. Tavadze followed by an open and informal discussion of the topic (not a formal Q&A) between all the participants.
Contemporary scholarship relies on the publishing system which values journals with high impact-factor and peer-review system. After joining the EHEA in 2005, Georgian scholars had to adapt to new challenges, as gradually new standards were set up and universities demand from them to publish in journals which are indexed in well-known databases and have high impact-factor. There is a trend in Georgian HE when university management emphasizes and assesses largely the quantitative side of scholarship (citation indexes, number of the articles published in international journals etc.), ignoring the substantive side. I argue that this trend stifles the creative potential of researchers who find themselves in a very uncomfortable situation (high hourly loads, low salaries, insufficient knowledge of English, lack of necessary “digital skills” etc.). In addition to this, international journals frequently have quite selective editorial policy and submission/acceptance of the articles is frequently a lengthy process, requiring lots of resources from the researcher. I argue that the researcher has the right to self-publish the articles on his/her personal website (be it faculty website or the website of the research center) and that such articles should by “recognized” by the universities and scholarly community as, for example, articles published in local or international journals are recognized. This will create a counterbalance to the existing hierarchical power/knowledge systems and make a step forward towards a self-regulating scholarly community.
The event is open and free for all interested.
Please sign up for the event through this link, please no later than November 3rd, 2021: