ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the process of establishing oneself as a bona fide and fully-fledged research-active academic with a sustainable career trajectory ahead of someone. Exploring the publishing cultures and the pursuit of research funding, and contextualised by the ongoing issues of the Research Excellence Framework in the UK, open access publishing and journal citation rankings. The chapter shows that there is a 'political economy' associated with academic research, in that the political and economic systems and structures influence one another and the shaping of the academic research environment and agenda(s). There is a significant difference between being a PhD student, a research assistant, an employee of a research agency or a consultant, and an employed, 'jobbing' academic. Research-active academics are evermore evaluated in terms of their publications; the income they generate; and their 'impact' on the world. A mathematical approach has overall, and unsurprisingly, contributed towards a targeted culture of research within HE.
