Academic publishing is a game. And a lucrative one for those who win. There is ample evidence of excessive self-citation; citation cartels, researchers trading citations amongst themselves; coercive citations, journal editors pressuring researchers to cite their own journal to boost its ranking; and now a citation black market, where fifty citation... See more
Writing is a skill. It's a technology we developed to communicate with one another. It's not something innate to the human experience; we are not born knowing how to write. In fact, an entire society can thrive without a writing system. So because writing is a technology, a skill, it requires practice. It's a muscle you can strengthen. It's a craft... See more