Clickbait Culture and Its Impact on Professionalism and Ethics in Academia: A Systematic Analysis

The relationship among the concepts of professionalism, ethics and clickbait culture in academia is an important subject matter for systematic investigation. This relationship calls into question the delicate balance between upholding ethical standards in academia and the push to “publish or perish” among academics leading to the use of media tactics to reach a wider audience as the demand for accumulating citations has become one of the yardsticks that measure success. This paper is a systematic analysis that investigates the effects of clickbait culture on academic professionalism and the ethical dissemination of research, paying special attention to how clickbait is affecting the behavior of academics in the contemporary technologically perceptive world.

Professionalism, ethics, clickbait culture, academia, systematic analysis

1. Baker, M., Willinsky, J., & Wood, S. (2016). The digital humanities and the politics of knowledge. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 31(1), 1–23. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Bastian, H., Ghali, W., & Goldstein, J. (2021). Clickbait and academia: The intersection of digital media and scholarly publishing. Journal of Academic Integrity, 15(2), 134–145. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Becker, H., & Neumann, A. (2020). Professionalism in higher education: Definitions and applications. Academic Leadership Journal, 28(4), 402–418. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Blevins, M., & Wicks, R. (2021). The impact of digital metrics on research visibility and academic careers. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 36(4), 420–437. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Blanchard, B. S., & Fabrycky, W. J. (2011). Systems engineering and analysis (5th ed.). Pearson Education. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Brembs, B. (2018). Prestigious science journals struggle to reach even average reliability. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, Article 37. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Camilleri, M. A. (2016). Utilising content marketing metrics and social networks for academic visibility: Content marketing for academic impact. In M. Cabrera & N. Lloret (Eds.), Digital tools for academic branding and self-promotion (pp. 109–126). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP). (2018). CASP checklists. https://casp-uk.net [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Fakhruroji, M., Suryana, C., & Wahyudin, A. (2023). Clickbait journalism: Media logics in journalism practices on online media. Communicatus: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi, 7, 233–248. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Fox, C. S., et al. (2016). A randomized trial of the effect of publication title on academic citations. Circulation, 133(6), 547–550. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Fraser, N., et al. (2020). The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. PLoS Biology, 18(4), Article e3000959. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000959 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Gough, D., Oliver, S., & Thomas, J. (2017). An introduction to systematic reviews (2nd ed.). SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Haggerty, L., & Brown, C. (2019). The digitalization of academic publishing and the ethical dilemmas of clickbait. Ethics in Information Technology, 21(3), 185–196. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Higgins, J. P. T., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., & Welch, V. A. (Eds.). (2019). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions (2nd ed.). Wiley. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Intemann, K. (2023). Science communication and public trust in science. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 48(2), 350–365. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Jamali, H. R., & Nikzad, M. (2011). Article title type and its relation with the number of downloads and citations. Scientometrics, 88(2), 653–661. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Jensen, J. (2016). The commercialization of academia: Clickbait and the erosion of scholarly standards. Higher Education Quarterly, 73(3), 249–264. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Liberati, A., Altman, D. G., Tetzlaff, J., Mulrow, C., Gøtzsche, P. C., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Clarke, M., Devereaux, P. J., Kleijnen, J., & Moher, D. (2009). The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PLoS Medicine, 6(7), e1000097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Macfarlane, B. (2021). Ethics in the research environment: A conceptual overview. Ethics and Education, 16(1), 50–67. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Martinson, B. C., Anderson, M. S., & de Vries, R. (2005). Scientists behaving badly. Nature, 435(7043), 737–738. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., et al. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Patel, R., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Clickbait and its impact on research credibility in the digital age. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 41(2), 188–200. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2006). Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A practical guide. Blackwell. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Rahman, H. (2023). Media ethics in the era of clickbait journalism: Ethical dilemmas and solutions in online media. Journal of Social Sciences Review, 3, 11–20. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Resnik, D. B. (2020a). The ethics of research with human subjects: Protecting people, advancing science, promoting trust. Springer. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Resnik, D. B. (2020b). What is ethics in research & why is it important? National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/index.cfm [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Rodrigues, M., et al. (2023). Artificial intelligence: Threat or asset to academic integrity? A bibliometric analysis. Kybernetes, 54(10), 9–20. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Siler, K., Lee, K., & Bero, L. (2015). Measuring the effectiveness of scientific gatekeeping. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(2), 360–365. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. Stern, B., & Chen, X. (2020). The commercialization of knowledge and its effects on academic integrity. Journal of Research Ethics, 10(4), 425–440. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. Sumner, P., et al. (2016). Exaggerations and caveats in press releases and health-related science news. PLoS ONE, 11(12). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Tod, D., Booth, A., & Smith, B. (2021). Critical appraisal. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 15(1), 52–72. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. Tranfield, D., Denyer, D., & Smart, P. (2003). Towards a methodology for developing evidence-informed management knowledge by means of systematic review. British Journal of Management, 14(3), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.00375 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

34. Tufekci, Z. (2018). Twitter and tear gas: The power and fragility of networked protest. Yale University Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

35. Van Dijk, J. (2018). The digital divide and academic publishing: The rise of clickbait culture. Journal of Academic Publishing, 29(3), 112–129. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

36. Van Schalkwyk, F. B., et al. (2020). Science communication in a digital world: The effects of online media on the public's trust in science. Public Understanding of Science, 29(2), 196–206. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

37. Vaughan, L., & Shaw, D. (2007). A new look at evidence of scholarly citation in citation indexes and from web sources. Scientometrics, 74(2), 317–330. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Assessment of the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Repositioning TVET for Economic Development in Nigeria
• Teachers’ Use of Assure Model Instructional Design on Learners’ Problem Solving Efficacy in Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya
• “E-Booksan Ang Kaalaman”: Development, Validation, and Utilization of Electronic Book in Academic Performance of Grade 9 Students in Social Studies
• Analyzing EFL University Students’ Academic Speaking Skills Through Self-Recorded Video Presentation
• Major Findings of The Study on Total Quality Management in Teachers’ Education Institutions (TEIs) In Assam – An Evaluative Study