This paper examines the debates about academic scholars and their ability to produce quality research outputs. One can argue that quality research outputs are the ‘number of articles per [academic scholar] that have appeared in a specific period of time in a set of prestigious journals’ (Hadjinicola & Soteriou, 2006, p. 3), or research published in ‘professional journals and in conference proceedings, writing a book or chapter, gathering and analyzing original evidence, working with post-graduate students on dissertations and … projects’ (Lertputtarak, 2008, p. 19), activities otherwise known as the pursuit of the academic mission. In South Africa, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has identified quality research outputs to be those that appear in a set of prestigious journals, or, certain recognized research publications that qualify for subsidy. According to the DHET list, ‘for purposes of subsidy, only DHETaccredited journals are recognised for subsidy’ (University of Cape Town Publication count overview, 2012). These encompass the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) that includes Arts and Humanities Citation Index; Science Citation Index Expanded; and Social Sciences Citation Index. Other accredited lists are the approved South African journals and the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) (University of Cape Town Publication count overview, 2012). It is expected that ‘every academic publish at least 1.25 articles annually in journals’ that the South African Department of Education has accredited (Schulze, 2008, p. 644).