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Turkish Academics’ Encounters with the Index in Social Sciences

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Universities in the Neoliberal Era

Part of the book series: Palgrave Critical University Studies ((PCU))

Abstract

This chapter is an ethnographic attempt to interrogate the changing nature of the relationship between everyday academic life, knowledge production practices, and expansive use of information and communication technologies in higher education in Turkey. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, I argue that performance-based evaluation systems influence academics’ understanding of scientific knowledge and publication, generating new coping strategies in the neoliberal academia. Most academics feel neither safe nor empowered in neoliberal universities that manage them according to points, performance indicators, competition, academic titles, and time pressure. While the academics’ responses to such transformations vary between resistance and acceptance due to their different profiles and personal skills, for many, the neoliberal restructuring of university creates despair.

The present chapter is part of an ongoing doctoral research project exploring the experiences of social scientists regarding the use of information and communication technologies. The project is supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit, Hacettepe University, Turkey.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Communication, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Eda Çetinkaya

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  1. Eda Çetinkaya
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Hakan Ergül

  2. Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Simten Coşar

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Çetinkaya, E. (2017). Turkish Academics’ Encounters with the Index in Social Sciences. In: Ergül, H., Coşar, S. (eds) Universities in the Neoliberal Era. Palgrave Critical University Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55212-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55212-9_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55211-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55212-9

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