Publish or perish: how Central and Eastern European economists have dealt with the ever-increasing academic publishing requirements 2000-2015

While publish or perish has been an integral part of academic research in Western countries for several decades, the phenomenon has made its way to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) only recently. The current paper shows how publishing criteria in the field of economics and business have developed in seven CEE countries since 2000 and how economists have responded by altering their publishing behavior. The research indicates a dichotomous development: on one hand the annual number of Web of Science publications has increased by 317% between 2000 and 2015, economists distribute their works across a wider range of journals than before, they are more cited and the weighted average of impact factors of all journals where they publish has risen by 228%. On the other hand, however, a number of economists have chosen an opposite strategy and publish mostly in local or predatory journals. Recommendations for policy makers are provided on how to maximize the benefits and minimize negative impacts of the publishing criteria.