N. academic dept culture

In the modern electronic-age, models of departmental academic-success may be evolving for two reasons:

(i) the changing economics of information-transfer is causing all information-industries to re-define their models, and

(ii) as far as specialists in any given field are concerned, the globe has shrunk enough that the risk of specialty conflicts of interest may be non-negligible.

One set of models & surprises to consider in this context might be the following, and what else?

Related references: