Comments | academics_anon: Questions about publications before getting a job

andystarr in academics_anon

Questions about publications before getting a job

Aug 16, 2013 08:28

I recently completed my PhD in a social science this summer and I am going onto the market this year. In my discipline, it is not uncommon to have a dissertation composed of three to four papers/journal articles (or in some cases, more than) rather than a traditional manuscript. I chose the paper route. Two of my four papers will be published in ( Read more... )

tenure, job market, publishing

Comments 12

knut_hamson August 16 2013, 15:37:55 UTC

Some jobs will not count anything that was taken from the dissertation as part of progress toward tenure, as they will want your tenure case to be built on your research productivity post-hire. For those jobs, publishing the remaining chapters from your dissertation should be done now (especially as those extra articles may help you land just such a research-focused job ( ... )

andystarr August 16 2013, 15:54:08 UTC

Thanks for the advice. I am applying for a wide range of jobs ranging from SLAC to R1s, so I guess I just need to get them out asap to cover my bases.

knut_hamson August 16 2013, 16:00:40 UTC

Honestly, I can think of no scenario where publishing your work will be held against you on the job market.

andystarr August 16 2013, 16:04:45 UTC

Yeah, I think that chair just came from a different time or may had a negative experience elsewhere before her current institution. But thanks again, its greatly appreciated!

Thread 5

fountaingirl August 16 2013, 15:38:56 UTC

I am in the social sciences, have been faculty various places since the early 2000s, and have worked on search committees and as a department chair ( ... )

andystarr August 16 2013, 15:52:35 UTC

Yeah, I was somewhat afraid of that but thank you for the very thoughtful advice. I had a few interviews last year (for tenure-track positions) without any publications and I was not finished, so I feel better going into the market this year than last but I do see your point. Thank you again, its greatly appreciated.

knut_hamson August 16 2013, 16:05:00 UTC

When some of my students tell me they want to go to grad school (esp. when students in my MA program want to go on for a PhD), I tell them that I sent off-prints of a published article as the writing sample for my PhD application, and I was accepted to half of the programs I applied to (none of which were top-5 programs).

It's scary how competitive the field has become.

fountaingirl August 16 2013, 19:37:54 UTC

Agreed. Something has got to give.

cheez_ball August 16 2013, 19:51:07 UTC

You should already be applying for jobs while you're doing all of this. None of this doing anything before applying stuff.

1-2 articles won't be the difference between getting tenure and not. By the time you're eligible you should have quite a few more publications under your belt.

changeofthemoon August 16 2013, 20:27:04 UTC

This. 1-2 articles isn't going to make a huge difference in the long run. BUT they could make a very big difference in terms of finding a tt job in the first place.

momsalive1 August 17 2013, 17:22:33 UTC

I'd be wary of holding off if the only consideration is that the publications will count towards tenure in the new job. When I started at a tenure track job, bringing in an ongoing grant and publishing a paper the next year based on my postdoc work "counted" toward tenure. When it came time for my tenure review, neither were counted.