OBJECTIVES AND VALUES OF ACADEMIC WRITINGS

In my presentation at UUM Press Workshop yesterday, I emphasized on at least three main objectives of academic writings. They are as follows:

1. The presentation of new knowledge.

It relates to the writings that go beyond the stereotype, presented in a form of reverse psychology, out of the box, and sometimes go against the mainstream. This is what some mean as innovative writing, the writing that does not modify existing idea, but instead presents a new idea to bridge existing research and literature gaps.

2. The self-identification of one's specialization.

It relates to the writings that helps the author to identify himself with the area of his specialization, integrating himself with his specialization that leads people to know him within the specialization and the specialization within him.

3. The development of a school of thought

It relates to the writings that lead to the development of a school of thought, usually led by an academic with a high quality of academic leadership.

On the values of academic writings, I stressed on two characteristics, namely:

1. Free-Riderism Free, that is the writings that are free of any riders who just include their names as authors although they are not involved in the writing of the writings.

2. Social Impact, that is the writings that are able to create positive consequences amongst the society, whether in the form of socio-economic and political mobility, or societal transformation of lifestyle and way of life.

I know that I had `de-empashized' the promotional role of the academic writings, viz. writing academic piece for promotion to higher posts et cetera, as well as the `commercial role' of academic writing gained by conference organizers and the so-called journal publishers, viz. accepting academic pieces for presentation and publication respectively, mainly for money!

It is my contention that these business-oriented group of people, irrespective of whether they are academics or non-academics, are part of the dynamic destructive force in the maintenance of academic writings quality, hence inevitably unfortunate, my disrespectful of them, and unworthy of emphasizing the objectives of academic writings dealt by them.