Beyond Rankings: reclaiming research integrity in marketing scholarship

This full-day, interactive workshop invites marketing researchers, especially doctoral students and Early Career Researchers (ECRs), to rethink one of the most persistent myths in academic publishing: that only “top-ranked” journals lead to REF success. Despite clear guidance from REF 2021 panels that rankings and metrics are not used to assess output quality, the belief continues to shape academic culture, reinforced by institutional pressures, managerial expectations, and performative measures of research “excellence.”

Throughout the day, we will combine myth-busting talks, hands-on exercises, and creative reflection to explore what really makes research “REFable,” with a focus on originality, significance, and rigour. Participants will assess anonymised outputs to uncover how assumptions and perceptions often shape ideas of quality more than substance itself.

We will also consider how journal hierarchies can narrow opportunities for innovation, discourage interdisciplinarity, and marginalise radical or EDI-focused work. With contributions from journal editor, head of department, REF (UoA17) sub-panel member, and emerging ECRs, the workshop will offer clarity on how the REF actually works, alongside practical strategies for navigating it.

A highlight of the day will be playing The Publish or Perish Game, a satirical card game that pokes fun at the ups and downs of academic publishing. As participants navigate peer review, citation chasing, and the dreaded “Reviewer 2,” the game offers a playful way to acknowledge challenges that will resonate with many. More importantly, it opens space for reflection on how humour and parody can reveal the realities of academic precarity, the contradictions of “excellence,” and the ways competition and metrics shape the kind of scholars we think we should be.

The workshop will close with a collaborative exercise: co-creating a manifesto against metrics. This values-based guide, co-created by and for ECRs, will serve as both a resource and an act of resistance — a reminder that meaningful scholarship cannot be reduced to rankings and numbers.

Participants will leave with:
· A clearer understanding of how REF output quality is really evaluated, independent of journal status or metrics
· Tools to reclaim the value of their work beyond rankings and prestige games
· Strategies for navigating and, where possible, subverting metric-driven cultures while staying grounded in purpose
· A renewed sense of agency and confidence in pursuing meaningful, innovative scholarship
· A co-created manifesto for resisting metric-driven academic cultures and promoting values-based research

Bursary opportunities:

We offer 15 bursaries (up to £120 each) to reduce travel and accommodation barriers for PGRs and ECRs attending the Workshop. Awards are made by a points-based assessment, taking into consideration career stage, distance, financial need, and benefits of the career. Reimbursement is against receipts only. We particularly encourage applications from PGRs and colleagues travelling from further afield or from institutions with limited conference funding. If you would like to apply for the bursary, please complete the form by 28th October: https://forms.office.com/e/CKg3HJhd7s

Hybrid options:

We are offering bybrid options of the morning part of the workshop. You choose your hybrid tickets. For the interactive elements of the workshop, we will only open to in-person participants.

Workshop Organisers:

Dr Yakun Zhang: [email protected]

Dr Wenjie Cai: [email protected]

Please contact us if you have any questions.

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Host or Publisher Dr Yakun Zhang