Preface

Nearly four years after the launch of the software program Publish or Perish, I am delighted to introduce to you the Publish or Perish book, your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis. The Publish or Perish software was first introduced in October 2006, partly as a response to my unsuccessful application to full professor that same year. I reasoned that if I was going to be successful, I would need to present a case that simply couldnt be rejected. Publish or Perish allowed me to do exactly that (see page 84), and I was promoted to full professor in 2007.

Even before I put in my second application for promotion, however, I realized that Publish or Perish might not only be able to help me, but also many other academics in a similar situation. I therefore made Publish or Perish freely available on my website, www.harzing.com. Over the years, I have come to realize that PoP can be used for many more purposes than I initially envisaged. This book documents its many and variable uses and shows you how to get the best out of the software program.

Citations are not just a reflection of the impact that a particular piece of academic work has generated. Citations can be used to tell stories about academics, journals and fields of research, but they can also be used to distort stories. This book is meant to help you create effective stories, but also to teach you to be a responsible user of research metrics. I hope you enjoy reading it and applying its content to good use.

Stories gain color through examples and this book contains many of them. Giving meaningful examples requires a detailed knowledge of the person or field in question. Therefore, many of the examples involve my own work as well as the broader field of Business and Management. However, wherever possible I have drawn from a broader discipline base, and I would be delighted to hear about your own stories for future editions of the book.

Acknowledgements

As this book is self-published there were few people beyond myself involved in its realization. However, I would like to thank my colleagues Christina Cregan and Joeri Mol as well as my PhD student Shea Fan for reading the final manuscript and providing thoughtful comments.

Most of all, however, I would like to thank Ron van der Wal of Tarma Software Research for his initial implementation and continuous improvement of Publish or Perish. Without his patience, dedication, and expert programming skills, Google Scholar's potential for citation analysis would still be unrealized.

Anne-Wil Harzing
September 2010
Melbourne, Australia