4 ms·

The reason why researchers write for a niche audience is because they are maximizing publication count. We're essentially targeting the papers for their reviewe

The reason why researchers write for a niche audience is because they are maximizing publication count. We're essentially targeting the papers for their reviewers. If researchers did not care about publication count, they would target the widest possible audience so that their results would have the most impact.

otoburb 10y ago
"Maximimizing publication count" seems to be the accepted ground truth, but I'm still somewhat surprised researchers don't write for a larger audience because one would think that expanding your audience beyond your sub-field will have a higher chance of garnering citations. Maybe the "lottery" citation factor isn't worth the extra effort required to normalize in-field shibboleths. Then again, if maximizing citations truly is the overriding publication incentive, I wonder why low h-index researchers don't pursue this route and 'upgrade' their existing papers for a wider audience wherever possible.
PeterisP 10y ago
It's rather the other way around, it's that reseachers read only/mostly works designed for a niche audience; and thus only value such works. We measure "the most impact" as "the most impact on us", i.e. how much the work impacts the research community. Works have an impact if I read them - a publication that targets a wide audience and thus by necessity is three times as long and "too introductory", is a publication that won't be read (by other researchers), won't be cited (by other researchers), and thus won't have an impact. If lots of laypeople read and understand it, well, that's nice, that's how textbooks work, but it doesn't help advance the science. A citation in mass media doesn't count as a citation. If someone silently adapts your method in industry, that's nice, but it doesn't really matter as well - that's a sign that your tech is mature, but "impact" measures the impact that your paper has on future progress - if the next thing doesn't rely on your paper, it doesn't have an impact on your research field anymore. Reviewers are actually representative of the intended audience of readers, so targeting for people like them makes sense.

otoburb 10y ago

"Maximimizing publication count" seems to be the accepted ground truth, but I'm still somewhat surprised researchers don't write for a larger audience because one would think that expanding your audience beyond your sub-field will have a higher chance of garnering citations. Maybe the "lottery" citation factor isn't worth the extra effort required to normalize in-field shibboleths. Then again, if maximizing citations truly is the overriding publication incentive, I wonder why low h-index researchers don't pursue this route and 'upgrade' their existing papers for a wider audience wherever possible.

PeterisP 10y ago

It's rather the other way around, it's that reseachers read only/mostly works designed for a niche audience; and thus only value such works. We measure "the most impact" as "the most impact on us", i.e. how much the work impacts the research community. Works have an impact if I read them - a publication that targets a wide audience and thus by necessity is three times as long and "too introductory", is a publication that won't be read (by other researchers), won't be cited (by other researchers), and thus won't have an impact. If lots of laypeople read and understand it, well, that's nice, that's how textbooks work, but it doesn't help advance the science. A citation in mass media doesn't count as a citation. If someone silently adapts your method in industry, that's nice, but it doesn't really matter as well - that's a sign that your tech is mature, but "impact" measures the impact that your paper has on future progress - if the next thing doesn't rely on your paper, it doesn't have an impact on your research field anymore. Reviewers are actually representative of the intended audience of readers, so targeting for people like them makes sense.