Information, Medium & Society: Twentieth International Conference on Publishing Studies

Abstract

The axiom that “ideas are academic currency” has resonated across disciplines, incentivized through administrative evaluation tools and criteria for promotion in rank. As innovative contributions to a specific field are so highly valued, academics and scholars jealously guard research agendas and associated materials. When collaboration does occur, roles of authorship and contribution are carefully delineated and defined, often through criteria identified by discipline-specific bodies. The system prohibits the timely dissemination of critical information across disciplines, and silos researchers, denying them the beneficial insights from colleagues in other departments in their own institutions. This study presents the results of an institutional approach to research and scholarship to address this instantiated impasse and argues for a reconsideration of “authorship” as defined and rewarded in institutions of higher education. Drawing from international models, the study recommends the promotion of disciplined-based pedagogic research, inquiry-based learning, research-led-teaching and teaching-led-research. Most importantly, the model promotes leveraging a range of field-specific skills to address “wicked problems” beyond the scope of any one researcher or epistemological model.