By Timi Olubiyi, PhD

For decades, the expression “publish or perish” has been of interest to academics, researchers, and professionals worldwide. Success is measured by the total number of peer-reviewed articles published, conference proceedings available online, and book chapters produced and published.

Despite so much research stemming from academic institutions, not many of these publications enjoy wide visibility in particularly those published in non-indexed journals.

Academics are continuously encouraged to increase the impact of their research endeavours, but what really constitutes impact in today’s academic environment?  Is it the number of citations for your published research?  Is it the amount of research funds your name and profile can generate?  Is it the number of speeches and presentations you deliver about your research area?  Is it the number of boards/committees/working groups that you serve on? And so on.

Though in the academic world, publication signifies validation and survival in most universities for promotion and relevance; in fact, it remains a cornerstone of career advancement. From early-career lecturers to senior professors, scholarly publishing plays a pivotal role in demonstrating expertise, building reputation, and meeting institutional benchmarks for promotion.

However, in today’s hyper-connected, information-saturated environment, a compelling principle has emerged: “Visible or vanish.” In other words, it is not just what you publish; it is who sees it, talks about it, and shares it that matters. Today, there is a stronger emphasis on quality, impact, relevance, and where your articles are published.

Globally, publications in high-impact journals measured and indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC), Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and more are given serious emphasis.

The primary reason for academic publication should be to advance knowledge, not merely for promotion or institutional expectations. In the author’s opinion, the true reasons for academic publication are to help scholars establish their intellectual identity, which represents a personal academic brand, provide a platform for international recognition, and create career milestones.

Though the gatekeeping role in academia has diminished, this has created a market for predatory journals for academics aiming for promotion. What are predatory journals? They are journals that are fraudulent or unethical academic journals that pretend to be legitimate scholarly publications but do not follow proper peer-review standards, editorial practices, or have recognized indexation.

All they need is money, money and money, no values or integrity. Predatory journals prioritize profit over quality and can seriously harm the academic career of a scholar with a global vision.

Though academic publications still remain respected, considering indexation is key even for institution-based journals (Journals run by university departments). Publication remains the foundation of academic promotion, but how and where academics publish matters more than ever.In an academic environment that is increasingly competitive, interdisciplinary, and global, researchers must not only produce excellent work but also strategically position it for maximum visibility and influence.

Both academics and researchers must consider more than just publication because we have only two key roles in publishing- to do our research and to communicate the research; the latter is the focus of this piece. Our research needs to be noticed, cited, and discussed due to its impact, or we risk being completely overlooked.

Platforms like Google Scholar, ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Facebook groups, Twitter (now X), and even TikTok have become unexpected grounds for attention. Researchers who communicate their work beyond academic circles through public lectures and engaging online posts amplify their impact dramatically.

A highly cited, visible paper can transform careers far faster than a series of obscure journal articles ever could. Therefore, for relevance and global standards, a quality publication with visibility is required.

Visibility today means publication with recognition, a visibility that can connect researchers to a broader global academic community. It can also enhance career and funding opportunities beyond the immediate environment of the researcher.

When publication is executed correctly, it has the potential to create change beyond academic circles, influence policies, and shape professional practices. It can also raise public awareness on critical issues like climate change and inequality.

With millions of articles published annually, even excellent research can be buried unless actively promoted to make it widely visible. Good visibility can also improve invitations for collaborations, keynote addresses, consulting engagements, and even career pivots beyond academia. Visibility, thoughtfully pursued, is no longer optional; it is extremely important. It may also help fulfil deeply personal motivations.

However, remember that scholarly publishing is not a one-way communication. It should encourage and invite critique, discussion, and debate; that is what visibility can provide. Research that enjoysvisibility has a higher chance of influencing policy, industry practices, and public understanding

It is safe to say it is key for researchers, scholars and academics to navigate this new landscape.Visibility is increasingly vital in academia as it directly influences career progression, research significance, and the capacity to engage with a broader audience. Enhanced visibility can connect to opportunities for international research partnerships, funding, and new audiences globally.

In the current competitive academic environment, merely publishing research is insufficient; scholars must proactively advocate for their work and establish a robust online presence to guarantee visibility and media attention. In an era of increasing pressure to publish quickly and frequently, remembering these true reasons can help academics stay focused on purpose over performance, ensuring that their contributions are not only counted but truly matter.

Therefore, publish wisely, publish well, and publish with purpose, along with incredible consistency. In the contemporary technological era, the way research information is handled, conveyed, processed, shared, and maintained has changed.Therefore, my colleagues, be a thought leader, there is a need to gravitate towards social media because it can improve visibility and also to promote research findings or knowledge thereof. So, welcome to the era of visible or vanish. Good luck!

How may you obtain advice or further information on the article? 

Dr Timi Olubiyi is an expert in entrepreneurship and business management, holding a PhD in Business Administration from Babcock University, Nigeria. He is a prolific investment coach, author, columnist,seasoned scholar, Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), and a registered capital market operator with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He can be reached on Twitter at @drtimiolubiyi and via email at drtimiolubiyi@gmail.com for any questions, reactions, and comments.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, Dr. Timi Olubiyi, and do not necessarily reflect the views of others.

By Linda Saunders

The ascent of agentic AI, systems that can perform tasks without human intervention, represents not just an incremental technological advancement but a fundamental reshaping of the business landscape. The possibilities for enhanced productivity and innovation are immense. Using AI agents, businesses around the world are unlocking a piece of the potential $6 trillion digital labor market opportunity.

Businesses that fail to adopt agentic AI, however, risk disruption by competitors or savvy upstarts. This demands a proactive and strategic response from leaders. In this new era of human-AI collaboration, leaders must center their efforts around two key pillars: large-scale employee reskilling and establishing a trustworthy AI ecosystem.

Reskilling for the agentic AI era

With just 15% of workers saying that they have the education and training necessary to use AI effectively, reskilling must be a priority for every business leader.

Employees must be given access to learning opportunities so they can adopt human-AI collaboration skills, including a foundational understanding of agentic AI and prompt engineering — a way to provide clear and effective instructions to AI systems.

Consider, for instance, the evolving role of developers. With AI agents capable of handling routine coding, developers can focus on bigger-picture tasks like system design and future planning.

According to Salesforce’s latest State of IT survey of software development leaders‌, more than nine in 10 developers are excited about AI’s impact on their careers, and an overwhelming 96% expect it to change the developer experience for the better. More than four in five believe AI agents will become as essential to app development as traditional software tools, the survey found.

In addition to technical abilities, cultivating human and business skills is vital for fostering a trusted environment where teams feel comfortable experimenting with AI. And, as every employee increasingly manages individual or even teams of agents, developing basic managerial skills across the workforce will become increasingly important.

Identifying the skills is just the first step. To succeed in the agentic AI era, businesses need to develop a comprehensive strategy that incorporates these skills into their workforce plan. This includes setting clear, measurable goals and actively tracking progress.

Managers need to provide active guidance and support to employees throughout this transformation, ensuring the workforce remains relevant and engaged.

Adopting trusted AI across the ecosystem

As the capabilities of agents grow, so too does the responsibility to manage ‌associated risks. It’s imperative to ensure these systems are fair and prevent stereotypes or alienation. The very qualities that make AI transformative can also lead to biases and erode trust if not managed.

To fully harness the potential of agentic AI, businesses must prioritize trust and safety at every stage of development and deployment. This means implementing strong security measures and adhering to ethical AI practices to safeguard data and ensure responsible use.

Guardrails for AI agents can be established using natural language topics and instructions specifying when an agent should escalate or transfer a task to a human. Concerns around data privacy and potential biases must be proactively addressed through strong data protection protocols and transparent communication.

Equally important are tools that foster transparency and empower users to make informed decisions regarding task delegation to AI. Employees need a clear understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the AI agents they collaborate with, alongside having control over the tasks being automated.

A key feature of Agentforce is its capacity for autonomous operation within specifically defined guardrails. This means that while ‌AI agents can operate independently, making decisions and taking actions, they do so within boundaries established by human teams, ensuring alignment with business objectives and policies. The Einstein Trust Layer enables Agentforce to use any LLM safely by ensuring that no Salesforce data is viewed or retained by third-party model providers.

The power of reskilling and trust to drive innovation

The transition to an AI-powered future will bring challenges, particularly ensuring employees have access to the right infrastructure, high-quality data, and relevant skills.

However, by investing in reskilling and comprehensive training programs, organizations can empower teams to work effectively alongside AI agents, adapt to the evolving nature of work, and ultimately drive innovation in this age of digital labor.

Building a robust infrastructure that prioritizes trust and safety, and fosters transparency, will also be instrumental in mitigating disruptions and unlocking new opportunities for growth.

Ultimately, investing in both AI agents and human employees, and actively fostering their collaboration in a trusted way, will enable businesses to operate at scale and realize their full potential in the agentic AI era.

Linda Saunders is the Country Manager and Senior Director of Solution Engineering for Africa at Salesforce

By Daouda Ngom

Across Africa, pastoralists and livestock keepers sustain herding systems which are closely bound up with our landscapes and crucial to nationwide food security, economic growth, and ecological balance. In my country, Senegal, almost 70 percent of our land is used to graze livestock.

And yet, I hear it often argued that – if we want a sustainable future – we must choose between hooves and habitats because livestock is an “environmental liability”.

But this point of view is misunderstood. Across Africa, innovative approaches and technologies are being piloted to allow livestock and a healthy environment to coexist. What we need now is more investment and collaboration to scale these breakthroughs.

Despite being home to more than 85 per cent of the world’s pastoralists and livestock keepers, sub-Saharan Africa produces just 2.8 percent of global meat and milk. As a result, one in five Africans do not have adequate access to nutritious foods, including animal source foods. Fixing this can be simple: a single egg, a cup of milk, or a small piece of meat can make all the difference to combatting malnutrition.

Meanwhile, populations are growing and urbanising faster here than anywhere else in the world. Demand for meat and dairy products is forecast to rise 300 per cent by 2050.

Thankfully, evidence is already out there which proves that we don’t need to sacrifice a healthy environment to meet this rising demand.

Pastoralists in Senegal, for example, move their animals strategically to mimic natural grazing patterns, considering rainfall to prevent overgrazing. This not only improves biodiversity and soil quality, but also reduces dry vegetation and the growing threat of wildfires. To support, the Senegalese government has been providing our pastoralists with detailed weather data and forecasts to help them optimise grazing and manage their livestock more efficiently.

Working with communities in this way has been shown to reduce conflicts for land and water resources and restore landscapes.

Elsewhere in Africa, animal health interventions are demonstrating how better, not necessarily fewer, livestock is the answer to sustainability in the sector. East Coast fever vaccination programmes have reduced calf mortality up to 95 per cent in some countries. More than 400,000 cattle have been saved in the past 25 years, reducing emissions up to 40 per cent.

Moreover, new thermotolerant vaccines for the highly contagious viral disease peste des petits ruminants (PPR) – as demonstrated already in Mali – offer a promising way to curb the $147 million in annual losses of sheep and goat keepers across Africa. Boosting productivity among these climate-resilient animals will be essential for nourishing Africa’s rapidly growing population as climate change intensifies.

However, despite these successes, an important challenge remains. I have seen firsthand that many pastoralists, smallholders and subsistence farmers lack the knowledge and resources needed to access and implement these innovations. These groups account for the majority of Africa’s livestock keepers and must be reached for these innovations to realise their benefits at scale.

Two things are needed to bridge this gap. First, greater collaboration between policymakers, researchers, farmers and businesses can help us to better understand the challenges that livestock farmers face and help them to produce more, without compromising our environment.

For example, collaborative initiatives like the Livestock and Climate Solutions Hub launched by the International Livestock Research Institute are a way of showcasing practical ways for farmers to reduce their herds’ impact on the environment.

The second element is investment. For decades, despite the clear potential of high returns on investment, the livestock sector has suffered from a vast investment gap, receiving as little as 0.25 per cent of overall overseas development assistance as of 2017. It must be made financially viable for livestock keepers to invest in technologies and approaches that raise productivity sustainably, or else this mission will not even get off the ground.

The upcoming World Bank Spring Meetings – where funding for development initiatives will be determined – presents a timely opportunity to kickstart this paradigm shift so that livestock is recognised within green financing frameworks.

African countries, in turn, must do their part by incorporating livestock into their national economic development plans and their climate action plans. This will help encourage funding streams from global investors and climate financing mechanisms, ultimately catalysing a multiplier effect of billions in livestock sustainability investment.

The solutions are within reach. What is needed now is the will to act decisively and unlock the continent’s unparalleled natural resource potential to build a future where prosperity and sustainability go hand in hand.

Daouda Ngom is the Minister of Environment and Ecological Transition for Senegal