Managing publication change at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University: a case study

Since 2011, in Kazakhstan, one of the main indicators for assessing the effectiveness of researchers is their publication activity in journals indexed by Scopus. The policy implemented by the government had a positive effect on the growth of the number of publications, however, simultaneously, dishonest practices and the use of questionable journals as channels for publication became widespread. This study identifies how the publication management system at a university in Kazakhstan is changing the publication strategies of its staff. The study was conducted based on the data of the internal rating conducted by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) during 2015–2019. Such data were obtained using an automated publication tracking system based on API Scopus. This study shows that introduction of mechanisms aimed to stimulate publication activity in KazNU had a positive effect on the research productivity, but simultaneously led to attempts to manipulate rating indicators on the part of individual researchers. The introduction of indicators based on the quality and impact metrics of the journals, in turn, positively influenced the publication strategy in terms of choice of journals and decrease of publications in journals with dubious reputations. The study results can be used to develop a strategy for publication activity in a university, especially in developing countries faced with publication inflation, an unprecedented increase in publications in “predatory” journals, and the emergence of dishonest practices aimed at manipulating bibliometric indicators.