'Excellence R Us': University Research and the Fetishisation of Excellence

13 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2017

See all articles by Samuel Moore

Samuel Moore

King’s College London

Cameron Neylon

Curtin University

Martin Paul Eve

University of London - Birkbeck College

Daniel Paul O’Donnell

University of Lethbridge

Damian Pattinson

Research Square

Date Written: January 2017

Abstract

The rhetoric of “excellence” is pervasive across the academy. It is used to refer to research outputs as well as researchers, theory and education, individuals and organizations, from art history to zoology. But does “excellence” actually mean anything? Does this pervasive narrative of “excellence” do any good? Drawing on a range of sources we interrogate “excellence” as a concept and find that it has no intrinsic meaning in academia. Rather it functions as a linguistic interchange mechanism. To investigate whether this linguistic function is useful we examine how the rhetoric of excellence combines with narratives of scarcity and competition to show that the hyper-competition that arises from the performance of “excellence” is completely at odds with the qualities of good research. We trace the roots of issues in reproducibility, fraud, and homophily to this rhetoric. But we also show that this rhetoric is an internal, and not primarily an external, imposition. We conclude by proposing an alternative rhetoric based on soundness and capacity-building. In the final analysis, it turns out that that “excellence” is not excellent. Used in its current unqualified form it is a pernicious and dangerous rhetoric that undermines the very foundations of good research and scholarship. This article is published as part of a collection on the future of research assessment.

Suggested Citation

Moore, Samuel and Neylon, Cameron and Paul Eve, Martin and Paul O’Donnell, Daniel and Pattinson, Damian, 'Excellence R Us': University Research and the Fetishisation of Excellence (January 2017). Palgrave Communications, Vol. 3, 2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2902596 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2016.105

Samuel Moore (Contact Author)

King’s College London

Strand
London, England WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom

Cameron Neylon

Curtin University ( email )

Kent Street
Bentley
Perth, WA WA 6102
Australia

Martin Paul Eve

University of London - Birkbeck College ( email )

Malet Street
London, London WC1
United Kingdom

Daniel Paul O’Donnell

University of Lethbridge ( email )

4401 University Drive
Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4
Canada

Damian Pattinson

Research Square ( email )

601 W. Main St., Ste 102
Durham, NC 27710
United States

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