I am a full-time tenured associate professor in Turkey, and as a scholar working on research evaluation systems, I can easily say that Turkey’s academic promotion and incentive criteria consistently prioritize quantity over contribution/impact. The key to gaining visibility in the global academic community is seen as producing a continuous stream of scholarly outputs, such as articles, books, book chapters, and proceedings. Among these, articles are particularly sought after because they heavily impact academic performance evaluation criteria, which rely on the three core indexes of Web of Science: SCI, SSCI, and AHCI. However, there is often a lack of clear distinction between different types of scholarly communication outputs, such as books and articles. As a result, publishing a rejected manuscript can be more feasible by transforming it into a book or a book chapter, since the criteria for articles are more explicit than those for books.

The Place of Books in Incentive and Tenure Systems

In Turkey, there are two significant research performance evaluation systems: One is an incentive system for scholars in public universities, and the other is the associate professorship title granted by the Higher Education Council of Turkey. The incentive system provides an annual bonus to academics’ salaries based on points assigned to their scholarly activities from the previous year. On the other hand, the associate professorship title is required for academics seeking to apply for associate professor positions in any university in Turkey. Books hold significant importance in both systems. For instance, to qualify for the associate professorship, scholars are required to publish at least one book or two book chapters. However, there is a lack of clear conceptualization when it comes to differentiating between various types of books, such as international books, national books, or book chapters. To provide clarity, here are a few examples of definitions:

• National Publishing House: A publishing house that has maintained regular operations at the national level for a minimum of four years. Their publications should be cataloged in university libraries in Turkey, and they should have previously published at least 20 books by different authors in the same field.
• International Publishing House: A publishing house that has maintained regular operations at the international level for a minimum of four years. They should have published at least 20 books by different authors in the same field, cataloged in the top 500 university libraries worldwide, with the book selections determined by ranking institutions recognized by the Council of Higher Education.

However, these definitions fail to address crucial aspects of the review and editorial processes. As a result, thousands of book publishers send spam emails on a daily basis, offering fast and inexpensive publication without any consideration for quality or rejection. This approach has led to a continuous rise in the number of books and book chapters published each year. This month, the Higher Education Council announced new regulations that will be implemented in 2024 for books, and they have decided to consider the Book Citation Index (BKCI) as a primary source for evaluations. However, the number of books published by Turkish authors and indexed in BKCI is only three (along with 10,494 book chapters). Therefore, efforts are being made to find a solution for the book publishing problem; unfortunately, our country has not yet been able to find one.

In my view, books and chapters are among the most important outputs of scholarly communication, particularly in the fields of social sciences and humanities. Therefore, it is imperative that we make changes to rectify the situation. Fortunately, I have come across some solutions within Emanuel’s article on book publishing. Here are a few of them:

• Consider diversity and differences in book publishing: The patterns of authorship, language, and length of books exhibit distinct characteristics within the scientific community. When formulating research evaluation policies for books, it is crucial to take these patterns into account.
• Be aware of oligopoly publishers and predatory practices: In Turkey, some universities utilize criteria such as the Book Citation Index, Scopus, and SENSE classification for book evaluations. However, it is essential to recognize the gatekeeping role played by oligopoly publishers. Additionally, the predatory book publishing model encompasses various practices. Evaluating the quality of publishers is vital for enhancing knowledge dissemination.
• Establish clear definitions: In each research evaluation cycle, it is necessary to have clear and unambiguous definitions of what constitutes a book and what entails book publishing.

There are numerous measures we can take to improve the book publishing system. As Emanuel stated in his book, “Let us start here: We should foster an academia that brings out the best in researchers and managers, not the worst.”

We must promote good practices and not normalize the bad ones. I am familiar with the story of Emanuel’s book, which took at least five years to complete, and also the story of the publishing house that churned out 10,000 books in a year. I firmly believe that the system will improve if we engage in more discussions about books similar to Emanuel’s.