The hectic epidemic of publishing in highly ranking journals leaves nothing of the pleasure of writing for the sake of writing.
Khalid - I doubt many people write articles for 'pleasure' - particularly if they 'never see the light of day' and/or end up rejected. However, for me, writing can be 'addictive' and enjoy crafting an article and I particularly enjoy it the day that you see the final version in print or online.
Most people probably write for 'pragmatic' reasons. I usually write because I think that I have a good idea and an original contribution to make. I also think that, if we conduct research, then we have an 'ethical' duty to promote it and try our best to get findings into the public arena. I don't write articles 'purely' for the sake of promotion - but it does look good on ones resume, it does help to raise your national/international profile through citation etc - which, ultimately, improves your chances of promotion. I, personally, write for both reasons - but we may hear from researchers who write - but don't seek promotion.
They are not things that have to be separated but reality tells us something else. We are clear that academic writing has a very rigid structure that does not give rise to other literary resources. Many researchers are passionate about writing scientific articles even though they are not good copywriters or "writers", they follow a formula and do their job. The cultural studies and some disciplines of the social sciences and humanities allow to have a form of writing much more creative and "literary" that in more rigid disciplines does not allow it. I think we should not confuse the taste for writing with the literary resources that each writer has. Now, I do agree that I hope there are more good writers doing research and that they also write academic articles.
The truth is that most lecturers write articles for academic promotion and not for the sake of pleasure and enjoyment. As a result of this, they rush over research without paying adequate attention to the research process. They don't go into indepth analysis of the research problem which obviously cannot solve any developmental issues.
We need to take research as a way of life not only as an academic exercise or for academic promotion.
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