Academic publishing: Peaks and perils

This opening seminar is fast becoming a stimulating lead-in to a rigorous research development weekend for DBA candidates, who focused on research methodologies, as well as issues of ethics and validity in research.

The open seminar focused on the peaks and perils of academic publishing, touching on trends and emerging challenges in the academic publishing arena. Prof. Shaun Ruggunan (UKZN) presented research findings captured in his latest book (co-authored with Prof. Sooryamoorthy), which outlines the trajectory of Management Studies in apartheid and post- apartheid South Africa. The need for critical quantitative research and more qualitative work in Management Sciences, with greater diversity in gender and race, was foregrounded. Dr Reshma Subbaye (MUT) shared her personal experience of completing the PhD by publication, as a road less travelled but worth the journey, both in terms of its challenges and rewards. Against this background, MANCOSA’s DBA Programme Director, Professor Renuka Vithal, shed light on the alternate route to completing the DBA, through article publication, cautioning that it was by no means a less rigorous route, as some may assume.

Lively discussion ensued on evolving research and publishing trends as well as the practical realities of completing a doctorate by publication and the rules governing them. The seminar concluded with the timely release of the second issue of MANCOSA’s Journal of Management and Administration, and the recognition afforded today to scholarly publication.