New publishing tactic

In a research environment that is, thanks to the research assessment exercise, increasingly oriented to tactics and stratagems, the guidance on getting journal editors to take the bait is highly appropriate ("Float an idea and get them to bite", Working Knowledge, October 14). But the punchline of the piece, "become obsessional", is a sad comment on what the RAE appears to be doing to the research climate in the UK.

Something appears to be missing, and I think I have found it in Henry Mintzberg's book Managers not MBAs (Berrett-Koehler, May 2004).

Mintzberg advises: "Publish only when you have something to say. You will be even happier as a reader."

I hope that this advice gains wide currency in the post-RAE era.

David Head

Director

Plymouth University Business School