Universities have changed in recent decades with the introduction of various performance measurement systems. This article analyses one type of reaction to performance measurement, namely strategic networking with the aim of publishing in high-impact journals. The analysis draws on 55 qualitative interviews with male associate professors in social science (economics, political science and sociology) at three Danish universities. While describing differences between groups of participants, the article identifies a widespread pattern of instrumental behaviour: targeted social capital building at conferences, ‘marketing’ of research papers to potential reviewers and journal editors, and tactical co-authorships. Theoretically, the article is inspired by Bourdieu’s concepts of social, scientific and academic capital and, especially, misrecognition. It challenges his theory of instrumental exchange being misrecognised in academia while pointing to another form of misrecognition, namely obliviousness to the unintended effects of performance measurement, here: lists of ‘top’ journals.