{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,9]],"date-time":"2025-12-09T08:20:37Z","timestamp":1765268437720,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,18]],"date-time":"2017-09-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1505692800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["AJIM"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,18]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of research evaluation policies and their interpretation on academics\u2019 writing practices in three different higher education institutions and across three different disciplines. Specifically, the paper discusses how England\u2019s national research excellence framework (REF) and institutional responses to it shape the decisions academics make about their writing.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>In total, 49 academics at three English universities were interviewed. The academics were from one Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics discipline (mathematics), one humanities discipline (history) and one applied discipline (marketing). Repeated semi-structured interviews focussed on different aspects of academics\u2019 writing practices. Heads of departments and administrative staff were also interviewed. Data were coded using the qualitative data analysis software, ATLAS.ti.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Academics\u2019 ability to succeed in their career was closely tied to their ability to meet quantitative and qualitative targets driven by research evaluation systems, but these were predicated on an unrealistic understanding of knowledge creation. Research evaluation systems limited the epistemic choices available to academics, partly because they pushed academics\u2019 writing towards genres and publication venues that conflicted with disciplinary traditions and partly because they were evenly distributed across institutions and age groups.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This work fills a gap in the literature by offering empirical and qualitative findings on the effects of research evaluation systems in context. It is also one of the only papers to focus on the ways in which individuals\u2019 academic writing practices in particular are shaped by such systems.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/ajim-12-2016-0216","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,10,27]],"date-time":"2017-10-27T03:55:08Z","timestamp":1509076508000},"page":"503-515","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Hobson\u2019s choice: the effects of research evaluation on academics\u2019 writing practices in England"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"69","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4022-2428","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sharon","family":"Mcculloch","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"issue":"6","key":"key2020120521410341000_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"895","DOI":"10.1016\/j.respol.2009.02.001","article-title":"Researchers\u2019 perceptions of citations","volume":"38","year":"2009","journal-title":"Research Policy"},{"edition":"2nd ed.","volume-title":"Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language","year":"2007","key":"key2020120521410341000_ref002"},{"volume-title":"Language Online: Investigating Digital Texts and Practices","year":"2013","key":"key2020120521410341000_ref003"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2020120521410341000_ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"722","DOI":"10.1016\/j.joi.2013.05.002","article-title":"The problem of citation impact assessments for recent publication years in institutional evaluations","volume":"7","year":"2013","journal-title":"Journal of Informetrics"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020120521410341000_ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"281","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-012-0676-y","article-title":"What do the scientists think about the impact factor?","volume":"92","year":"2012","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2020120521410341000_ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"355","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-954X.2012.02077.x","article-title":"Living with the h-index? 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