Publikationserwartungen in Wissenschaftskarrieren: Publizieren in der außeruniversitären Forschung am Beispiel der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

This paper examines the relationship between publication practices and career paths in non-university research contexts. Successful scientific careers are closely linked to publi-cation activities. In the following we highlight the practices which lead up to the publication of scientific material. Our findings are derived from interviews with members of two Max Planck Institutes, as well as additional interview partners gained through those initial contacts, who allowed us to collect the necessary data for this project. In our analysis we draw from Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of habitus and field to de-scribe and understand actors’ movements, while referencing various forms of capital to explain their actions. We also pose the question of how mutual expectations as well as social rules governing competition in the scientific field are generated. Bourdieu’s concept of illusio provides us with an analytical instrument to capture scientists’ increasing identi-fication with the “game” being played out in their field together with its associated rules. Moreover, concepts garnered from Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory allow us to ob-serve publication rules as at once enabling and constraining, a condition which we characterize as regulation. Drawing from these theoretical concepts and the results of our analysis, we demonstrate that scientists are subject to varying influences and expecta-tions depending on their respective positions in the field. In this context we focus on a specific subset of actors, namely doctoral candidates and their advisors. We will identify and discuss the expectations involved in this relationship in order to observe their trans-mission and reproduction, as well as the publication practices implemented in response to these pressures. We conclude with a discussion of the relationship between publishing and career paths in the scientific field.