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How can a researcher (be it professor or student) combat the pressure to get published? I know that the academics these days are extremely competitive. I feel that many research work now-a-days are driven to get published (It is not a fact just my feeling. I may or may not be right). Not all research work can produce successful results. You either succeed or learn that your approach/method/theory doesn't work (see this).

Also, consistent and frequent publications lead to a successful career even though the research itself may not have much impact in a practical situation (See this).

Is research not about the search for truth anymore? Has it been reduced to number of publications and impact factor? Is it possible for anyone to have a successful research career and at the same time publish(only those that they think are worth publishing) less often?

Edit: I have found a brutally honest answer in another part of this community.(see JeffE's answer)

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    "It is not a fact just my feeling." -- No, it's really a fact.
    – Daniel R. Collins
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 7:14
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    "Not all research work can produce successful results." - this depends on how you define "success". Often, you don't get the results you hoped for but may still be able to write up anything you have learned.
    – Stephan Kolassa
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 7:18
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    Welcome to Academia SE. Unfortunately, there are some problems with your question: 1) It asks many different questions at once. 2) All of these questions are themselves very broad and opinion-based for this format. – If you can, please edit your question to meet our requirements, ideally without invalidating the existing answer.
    – Wrzlprmft ♦
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 7:46

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In mathematics, it is possible to have a successful career while publishing rather few papers, but they need to be very good and important papers. In my own field, set theory, an example is Jack Silver. MathSciNet lists only 11 publications by him, starting in 1970, but these include five extremely important advances, which have become fundamental for much of contemporary set theory. Although 11 looks like a small number in this context, 5 is very impressive.

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    In theoretical physics, Peter Higgs have also a small number of publications for high energy physics, with gaps for many years. In fact, looking at history, many well known physicists have done their PhD with 1-2 or none publications. Today, such physicists would have real problems in getting a postdoc position.
    – Nikey Mike
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 11:52

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