The Cobra Effect

 

The Cobra Effect — A Lesson for Universities

During British rule in India, the government paid people for every dead cobra.
At first, it worked — until people began breeding cobras to earn more money.
When the policy ended, breeders released the snakes, making the problem worse.

Decades later, Indian academia faced a similar “Cobra Effect.”
Universities rewarded quantity of publications to climb rankings — leading to low-quality papers and citation games.

Lesson
As Oman’s universities pursue global recognition and support Vision 2040, the focus must remain on research quality, ethics, and real impact, not just numbers.

Policy design matters.
Every incentive must be tested for unintended outcomes — or we’ll end up, once again, breeding cobras instead of innovation.