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The Research Myth That’s Killing Your Citations

Why your research isn’t getting published (it’s not what you think)

Lennart Nacke
7 min readJan 9, 2025
A whip-swinging adventurer in a cave facing problems.
Find problems not gaps in the cave that is your research.

I’ve been lied to. As a result, I’ve lied to my people on social media. Sorry. Academia has fed us an impenetrable myth: that research is about finding gaps in the existing knowledge. I ate it up. And, boy, that chase felt good. Channeling your inner Indiana Jones to fill those gaps in the literature (although all he did in the last movie was fill an age gap with computer-generated imagery). But, before you call me a dementor because I suck the joy out of everything, know that there is something inherently easy and exciting about using research gaps as motivation for a research paper or when looking to find a research topic.

You’ve probably heard it a thousand times. I’ve preached about research gaps myself (and used them copiously in my writing), but I’m here to tell you now that just chasing gaps is a recipe for irrelevance. Larry McEnerney, the director of the University of Chicago’s writing program, opened my eyes. It’s a trap that leads to countless hours spent on research that, frankly, nobody cares about in the long run. Gaps are like redshirts on a Star Trek away mission. Nobody cares if they’re gone. But don’t worry, there’s a better way. Luckily a way I’ve been teaching myself for a long time in my CHI writing course

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Lennart Nacke
Lennart Nacke

Written by Lennart Nacke

I share effective strategies for better UX research, game design, and writing. University Research Chair & Tenured Full HCI Professor.

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