How the publish or perish software facilitated the "impact turn" in academia
Short introduction to my new white paper that traces PoP’s origin story and its changing usage over the years. It also reflects on how to measure and improve our citation impact, and on the need to broaden our conception of both impact and the nature of academic careers.
Publish or Perish – describing the pressure academics feel to publish in order to succeed in their academic careers – is probably one of the best-known aphorisms in academia. However, it is also the name of a software program for citation analysis that I have offered as a free download on my website since 2006. It has “gone viral”. In a Google search it now occupies the top two of the first three search results for the term, the third being Wikipedia.
In a way the name of the software program – chosen as a recognizable tongue-in cheek pun on academic practices – has always been a bit of a misnomer. As a citation analysis program Publish or Perish (PoP) traces the (citation) impact of our research. Hence, rather than seeing the published paper as the final destination of our scholarship journey, PoP encourages us to focus on the impact of our papers, although in the relatively narrow domain of citation impact.
This white paper traces PoP’s origin story and its changing usage over the years. However, it also reflects on how to measure and improve our citation impact, and on the need to broaden our conception of both impact and the nature of academic careers. It was inspired by the very insightful questions posed by Mario Pagliaro, Research Director at Italy's National Research Council. My answers were meant to be integrated in an academic article. However, as my responses were so elaborate, this idea didn’t work out as planned.
Even so, Mario’s questions gave me a perfect opportunity to reflect on these topics in time for PoP’s 20th anniversary this month. So, with his permission I have transformed them into a white paper: From "Publish or Perish" to publishing with impact.
Using the Publish or Perish software
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Publication details
Harzing, A.W. (2023) Using the Publish or Perish software: Crafting your career in academia, Published by Tarma Software Research Ltd, London, United Kingdom.
- Kindle edition, 445 pp. ISBN 978-1-7394538-4-8.
- Black & white paperback, 375pp. ISBN 978-1-7394538-3-1.
- Black & white hardcover, 375pp. ISBN 978-17394538-5-5.
Update December 2024: The book is now also available as a downloadable PDF from Harzing.com. Purchase of this PDF directly benefits the development of the Publish or Perish software.
Related blogposts
- 2006-2026 - The changing usage of Publish or Perish over the years: where, why, when, what, who and how?
- My academic career: a story in four seasons, eight failures, and four morals
- Inclusive academia (2): Inclusive research evaluation
- Highly cited academics in Business & Management over the years
- Running the REF on a rainy Sunday afternoon: Do metrics match peer review?
- Working with ISI data: Beware of categorisation problems
- The mystery of the phantom reference
Copyright © 2026 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Sat 24 Oct 2026 11:16
Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.
