BTSCON 2026 - Lightning Talk - Publishing, Incentives, and Conflict: An Action Research Inquiry

Slides for a lightning talk at the fifth annual Big Team Science Conference (BTSCON 2026), held virtually via Zoom, 6 to 8 October 2026. Academic publishing functions both as a marker of scientific contribution and as a key mechanism for career advancement. This dual role raises a normative question. Should structural incentives to publish be considered conflicts of interest that require disclosure? The Psychology of Science Hub addresses this question through an action research approach that includes a community-wide survey: https://erasmusuniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2c5MCHQLkgFlvQa.The goal of the survey is to map diverse perspectives on what counts as a conflict of interest in publishing and how such interests should be handled. In this lightning talk, we will present preliminary findings from the survey, focusing on disciplinary and regional differences in perceptions of conflicts of interest.