Academicianship


Mehmet Rami Helvaci (1)
Orhan Ayyildiz (1)
Orhan Ekrem Muftuoglu (1)
Mustafa Yaprak (2)
Abdulrazak Abyad (3)
Lesley Pocock (4)


(1) Professor of Internal Medicine, MD
(2) Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, MD
(3) Middle-East Academy for Medicine of Aging, Chairman, MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF
(4) medi-WORLD International

Correspondence:
Mehmet Rami Helvaci
Professor of Internal Medicine, MD
ALANYA, Antalya,
Turkey
Phone: 00-90-506-4708759
Email: mramihelvaci@hotmail.com

What is academicianship? What does an academician do? Why do academicians take money from the taxes of citizens? What is the need of academicians for the society? What is the necessity of academicians? All citizens have the right to ask these questions of academicians. If we define some borders for academicianship, answers to the above questions will be given.

An academician is not a routine officer working between 08:00 a.m. and 17:00 p.m. As a scientist, an academician studies the whole day, the whole week, the whole month, the whole year, and the whole lifespan. While a farmer thinks about his plants, a herder about his animals, and a trader about his trade, a scientist thinks about his project during the 24 hours of the day, even for years. Ending of the thinking, observation, experiments, and follow up of patients about the projects actually means death of the scientist, since retirement is usually impossible in the process. Actually, a scientist cannot produce something new if he or she does not study for 24 hours of day in his or her mind. 'What is the value of a person? The value is the person's aim in their life'. The proverb can actually define the significance of a scientist for us. An academician is a hunter. He or she always looks for new ideas, projects, and products for the human being and this process may take his or her whole lifespan since the new ideas and products are usually results of intensive thinking processes. 'Most people run after money or a comfortable life but scientists run after knowledge'. 'God gives money to who God wants but God gives knowledge to who wants by himself or herself'. These proverbs may also define the significance of academicianship.

If we can see significant differences between today and one hundred years before in the science, be sure about that there will be significant differences between today and one hundred years later again and the main actors of the process will be the scientists and academicians. But an academician does not mean a person living in his or her private world alone. Actually, academicianship means sharing of his or her knowledge, findings, and results with the students, colleagues, and population. Actually, knowledge does not have importance if it is not shared with others. On the other hand, scientists who are not sharing their knowledge with surroundings are not liked by students, colleagues, and society. Additionally, such scientists will not be able to produce significant ideas and products at the end of their whole lifespan since everybody knows that knowledge does not decrease instead increases with sharing. The scientists can see their mistakes, deficiencies, and misunderstandings by sharing their knowledge. In another definition, the scientists actually need students, colleagues, and patients to increase their knowledge, experience, and products.

Academicianship does not mean education alone. There must be some additional properties that are not found merely with teachers. Giving lectures, following up patients, performing experiments, and thinking on particular fields are found to be among some of the responsibilities of the academicians. Academicians have to improve themselves in their particular fields all the time. In other words, academicianship is an active process requiring a continuous improvement. Degrees in academicianship such as doctor, assistant professor, associated professor, and professor are given not by aging but by scientific products. So a person can be a Pprofessor via a hard studying process in their very early years of life with many scientific products.

Writing ability is found among the major properties of the scientists. Writing has a significant role in development of human experience. Academicians must have the abilityto write. An academician without the ability to write an original article, a case report, a letter to the editor, a review, a chapter, or a book about his or her interest field looks like a car without wheels. Both of them can not go further. Therefore academicians have to think about particular subjects, produce new ideas, educate students, follow up patients, and perform experiments but eventually they have to write all of their results as new papers in the literature. Without writing, all of the findings will go to the grave without any benefit for human beings. So a long lifespan of a professor will be meaningless without writing at the end. On the other hand, writing a paper about a particular issue may reveal several. In another definition, writing in a particular fields is the most effective way of improveming issues. So writing is a necessity for development in science. 'Do not look at the talk instead just look at the products of an individual'. This proverb can summarize what we hope to explain.

An academician means a scientist who has new ideas, not on several, but just on particular fields. Actually the ability of production of new ideas may even require a lifelong thinking process on that issue. Thinking on a particular issue, following up patients, and performing experiments will eventually bring new ideas and products in front of us. A scientist can produce a limited number of products if he studies several fields but can produce a wider range of products if he studies a particular field alone. 'A person cannot be an expert on several issues but can be just on some issues'. The proverb explains to us that the short lifespan of a human being will not be enough to be an expert in several fields.

The aim of academicians cannot be earning copious money. Academicians usually cannot earn even enough money for their normal lives everywhere in the world since usually earning large amounts of money is another ability of human beings needing several lifetime s to work on it. Actually, thinking about earning large amounts of money will break apart scientists' studies. So scientists will not be able to follow up patients, perform experiments, and think on the particular field during 24 hours of their day. Earning a large amount of money therefore and finding new products for human beings cannot be found at the same time, by the same mind since both of them need different ways of working and these cannot be achieved by the same individual at the same time. For example, Edison did not develop the light bulb to be rich or to earn much money.

As a conclusion, academicianship is a lifestyle that needs to devote thinking not on several but just on particular fields, and to perform observations and experiments, follow up patients, educate students, produce new ideas and products, and write all of the results into the literature. Its duration takes a whole lifespan and it usually does not terminate with earning copious money.

Most of the world's great advances in the sciences and medicine during the last two centuries have been through academic endeavour. Political leadership has been patchy in advancing civilisation, at best, but academia, divorced from the politics and the pecuniary interests of each generation has continued to lead humankind toward a brighter and more equitable future.