In order to achieve a high rank in such an assessment, there is a trend to split up research results into smaller parts that are published separately, thus inflating the number of publications.
In salami publishing, data gathered by one research project is separately reported (wholly or in part) in multiple end publications.
[7][8][9] When data gathered in one research project are partially reported as if a single study, a problem of statistical significance can arise.
[10] There is no consensus among academics about whether people should seek to make their publications least publishable units, and it has long been resisted by some journal editors.
Also, LPUs may not always be the most efficient way to pass on knowledge, because they break up ideas into small pieces, sometimes forcing people to look up many cross-references.