University Managerialism and Scientific Publishing

The paper sets out a general approach to university managerialism and its links with the scientific publication system. In an academic context, techniques and practices bearing on the management field include a specific view on why and how to publish, as well as what ends publication should serve. This work explores the discourse legitimising that view and reconstructs the behavioural and emotional human archetype it enshrines. The empirical materials used are handbooks, guides and presentations aimed at university staff with a view to boosting their publishing output. The paper ends with a critical assessment of the discourse and archetype's implications in semi-peripheral academic contexts in terms of the production of scientific knowledge.