Do the Data and Metrics-Driven Culture and Journal Ranking Adversely Impact Local Journals?

Data-driven culture can be equated with evidence-based decision-making and involves activities that are governed by data and statistics rather than intuition and personal experience. A metrics-driven culture refers to activities that are driven by deadlines and predetermined objectives. In addition to providing a prescribed and structured approach to working, data- and metrics-driven cultures also help identify shortcomings. However, overreliance on a structured approach destroys originality and diminishes passion for the task. Furthermore, a metrics-driven culture based on parameters and statistics would create a “number game culture” without ensuring originality. In a scholarly journal, the two terms have different implications. The purpose of journalism is to display knowledge discovery. Knowledge is the business entity of a journal. Eastern scholars are overly responsive to metrics- and data-driven cultures intended to serve Western interests. Scholars’ statistics may rise at the expense of the East’s collective gains. Ideally, knowledge should be able to remove the detrimental effects of dependency and discrimination theories. For local knowledge to contribute toward reducing the effects of dependency and discrimination theories exacerbated by Eastern elites, it is important to be competitive in the global market. It must, however, not simply be a naive customer of the international knowledge hub, but ensure its proportionate share of it.