Web 2.0 Meets the World of Academic Research
Regular as clockwork, every year brings about a ritual in Research Universities that is dreaded by certain Assistant Professors on the Tenure Track. Welcome to the Tenure Review process, a rite of passage for university professors seeking to attain the ‘Holy Grail’ of tenure and the accompanying permanence of their employment contract at their universities. Originally conceived as a means of guaranteeing academic freedom, the pros and cons of the tenure system are endlessly debated by both academics and non-academics alike.
Regardless of one’s view of tenure, the critical success factor for the tenure process in the majority of schools is research. In Life-Sciences and Engineering, funded research plays a crucial part in the tenure decision, while in the Liberal Arts, Business, and Law, there is a stronger emphasis on published research in refereed journals. Most universities aspiring to the loftier strata of the rankings system place a huge emphasis on research-all kinds of research, whether funded or published.