Should Academics Write For Free

~ Laura

The writing for free article still has legs. I just read two articles about whether or not academics should write for free. Let me add my two cents.

Academics should write for free in mainstream publications. They have a lot of knowledge that is bottled up in obscure academic journals that nobody reads. Theoretically, they know how to write. It’s good for the public to learn about their particular subset of expertise. It’s good for academics to get real world feedback on their studies. Frequent writing helps them hone their writing skills.

Academics should not write for free in mainstream publications, because they are depressing the salaries for people who actually need the money to pay rent and buy food. Their inclusion in the ranks of content providers has flooded the market for wordsmiths.

Not brilliant and consistent two cents. But there you go.

Published by Laura

4 thoughts on “Should Academics Write For Free”

  2. The obvious compromise that that academics should write for free but that they shouldn’t do a very good job of it. Like when they write in journals.

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  3. As I am busily writing for free for two publications on my area of scholarly expertise, I am thinking that we should NOT work for free.

    I’m underpaid as it is: I work for a “value” school — which means relatively low pay due to poor state appropriations and low tuition. We do more with less. (Or, in the words of my college President: “We need to provide a Neiman-Marcus product at Kmart prices.”)

    My courses are not Neiman-Marcus (I cannot speak for my colleagues in this regard), but I think as close as I can get to Banana Republic at my current workload. And now I’m spending a day polishing data analysis to offer scholarly heft to the current politics of the day in my country of specialization, partly for exposure, and a great deal to affect policy decisionmaking and inform the general public.

    This means my grading will go into midnight or so. Kmart prices indeed.

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  4. I don’t think academics ARE writing for free. It’s just that the people paying them are not the people who are publishing them, in the main. Your publication list is what got you your job in the first place, generally, and it is what will get you the next job if the Directional State at which you are teaching is cut out of the budget and you need to find a new place to land.

    Now, as for putting stuff in mainstream publications – what are our examples? Paul Krugman? Glenn Reynolds? Greg Mankiw? Larry Sabato? These are guys who want to have an effect on national decisions, to be players on the Big Screen. Tyler Cowen and Walter Russell Mead have both propelled themselves into getting heeded nationally through publication in mainstream pubs, as well as through blogging.

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