TILTS AND SWINGS

The ‘publish or perish’ syn¬drome which is increasingly becoming the most vexed question in the academic life of the United States seems to have invaded India also. Although it is still not very clear in this country whether the number of publications of an individual scholar necess¬arily promotes his professional prospects (the growth of ‘trade unionism’ among teachers in the university system running rather counter to this develop¬ment), the fact that he appears to believe so gives credence to this formulation. Of late there has been an unprecedented proliferation of academic pub¬lications. While there is reason to rejoice at this there is also reason for despair, as the phenomenon essentially entails the possibility of producing a sizable quantum of materials in print that would be sub¬standard and repetitive, All academic disciplines have been suffering from this syndrome and probably more so inter¬national relations, which as a full-fledged discipline is yet to be recognized.