To continue on the job, what should be a minimum required number of publications?
What young professors suffer from is producing more than is necessary in their early years. It tends to hurt them over time. This is because it influences expectations. Simply not over doing would be a wise or good strategy because when over done the dept heads expect performance at that level.
There needs to be a balance between quantity and quality of publications.
A small number high quality publications, determined according to established metrics, should be equivalent to a larger number of lower quality publications.
Thank you respected professors for your continuing contributions to this discussion😀
To Kelvyn:
I agree with your Answer about the quality of publications.
As the Question asks about the number of publications, I revert to my previous answer.
To Chuck:
Very interesting Question that deserves an intensive response.
The number of publications are very important for academic researchers because reveal their actives and which field interested in.
High quality publications are desirable, but high quantity seems to be more prevalent.
In my University, to be promoted in Assistant Professor (in the field of Science) one have to publish at least 20 papers in journals with IF. Plus to have certain number of conference papers and citations.
High quality publications are required to increase the academic indicator.
High quality publications are required to increase the academic indicator.
When I started in the early 1960 the basic requirement to get the position as assistant professor in biochemistry in a good University (in the USA) it was essential to have at least 10 publications half of them in reputable journals like J. of Biological Chemistry or PNAS.
This varies Universities to Universities / Institutes to Institutes . The position of
Asst Prof is an upgraded / promoted position of Lecturers as 05 Yrs of experience. As per Carrier Advancement Scheme ( CAS ) specified by UGC , INDIA
the Ph.D degree should be mandatory for Asst Professor w.e/f 2021. Now question rises how much publications will be required for Ph.D degree subject to subject ?
The greater the number of publications the better
Greetings
last year we published with my team work about 30 papers in around the world.
If pressed on quantity - and doing this from a social sciences UK perspective I would advise on average 2 papers a year - one of stand-out quality, one turning the handle but keeping you in the game ; so that is say 16 in 8 years for promotion to Reader (associate professor) after completing a Phd, I would want to see at least 4 standout out papers or a research monograph in there. The total number could will be reduced due to circumstances such as pregnancy, illness, etc but I would still want to see evidence of quality which would be judged not by name of journal but by reading/assessing the outputs sufficiently to come to a judgement. I would not pay too much attention to a h -index or indeed a Rgate score! I also recognize recent appointments often have to do a lot of things to get up to speed, preparing teaching material and undergoing training to teach which is usually mandatory in the British context.
Dear Chuck A Arize
In my view, 2 to 3 per year would be compatible with the addressed positions.
Regards.
High quality papers of 2 per year should be the best, although every country has its own requirement. If we keep on affordable number per year with good quality it would translate science to advancement for human use and benefits, rather than focusing on quantity.
I thing every country has its own requirnment interm of publications. However, usually researcher starts with less published articles (2-3 articles) to have more in umcoming years.
Dear Jelena B Popović-Djordjević,
Is it possible that in your University “to be promoted in Assistant Professor (in the field of Science) one have to publish at least 20 papers in journals with IF”?!
Best regards
@ Joshua O. Ighalo and Bzhar Majeed and Kammoru and Adedokun
your statements are not clear. Do you mean 2 or 3 C level papers per year of what? The journals, I hope, must be SSCI SC1 or Scopus or ABDC . In my own school, you may succeed with that at the department level up to year 3 but during year 4 you must have a tier 1 indexed one and by year 6, you must have a B level or above, PLUS good teaching , community service evaluations. Even with the above, you may not make it through the college committee.
To Chuck:
How are co-authored papers counted if two candidates are under consideration for hiring or promotion, and they have published with each other?
To Mike,
Very often, hiring is truly not based on so much on publications, it is often based on chemistry.How the committee felt when the person walked in. What they said and how they said it. A person like you who is easy on the eyes and words passes quickly. They would see you as trusting, one of us, kind and helpful.Good addition, they often look at it like can i see this guy every day forever.
On promotion, you are already there so they know the individual and will not even look at the papers (ok glance over a few). Again, my saying one's eyes eats the food before their mouth. From seeing and being with person they make up their minds and cast their votes.
To Chuck:
Many thanks for your detailed, informative helpful Answer.
The issue of the number of papers a Lecturer or an Assistant professor should have also depends on how many years have passed since completing the PhD, and/or the years of active service.
Dear Prof. Dr. Jelena B Popović-Djordjević,
Is it currently valid the rulebook on the election of the vocations in your University available at https://bg.ac.rs/files/sr/univerzitet/univ-propisi/Pravilnik-kriterijumi-sticanje-zvanja.pdf (in Serbian, from July 1, 2016)?
Best regards,
Romeo
Further to the immediately preceding Answers, the number and quality of publications can be determined over a specified time period.
The number of publications varies considerably across disciplines, especially in the context of collaborative team research.
In many countries, Lecturer and Assistant Professor are equivalent academic positions, while in others, Lecturer is one academic appointment below Assistant Professor.
Chia-Lin's point is consistent with U.S. where a Lecturer is not a regular tenure tack person. Of course, we do have Assistant professors (non-tenure) also. Therefore, the major issue here for us is tenure-track or not. Now, tenured one has to go up every 5 years for post-tenure review so "things have fallen apart". One is never free of administration control.
To Chia-Lin Chang and Chuck:
Many thanks for the helpful and informative explanation of the positions of Lecturer and Assistant Professor, which holds in the USA and several other countries, in Asia and elsewhere.
In cases where Lecturers, and possibly Assistant Professors, are teaching-only appointments, the issue of publications presumably does not apply.
Further to the above discussion about teaching-only academics, how might an Answer to the intriguing Question be framed for tenure-track research-only appointments?
I have no idea what the correct number of papers is, but, I would argue that Kelvyn Jones's response is best. Quality trumps quantity.
Brigid
Poštovani kolega Meštrović,
Nisam sigurna da je pravilnik koji ste naveli trenutno važeći.
Uglavnom, u pravilniku su minimalni uslovi.
Ja kao hemičar biram se i prema kriterijumima Hemijskog fakulteta, kao matičnog fakulteta, koji su znatno strožiji.
Možda sam pogrešila za 20 radova..
last year we published with my team work about 30 papers in around the world.
Draga koleginice Jelena B Popović-Djordjević,
U svakom slučaju, nije bitno da li je baš važeći Pravilnik koji sam naveo u mom prethodnom odgovoru, ali kriterijum za izbor u docenta na Vašem Univerzitetu o 20 radova sa IF (Impact Factor) za koji ste tvrdili da je važeći posebno me iznenadio, a po Vašem prethodnom odgovoru, pretpostavljam da se i Vi slažete da on nije važeći. Naime, ja imam mnogo poznanika i prijatelja (izvrsnih matematičara) sa Matematičkog fakulteta u Beogradu i sa Matematičkog instituta Srpke akademije nauka i umjetnosti koji su i u višem zvanju od docenta, pa jedva ispunjavaju ili možda ne ispunjavaju taj kriterijum.
(Slična situacija je generalno i na mom Univerzitetu).
Srdačan pozdrav,
Romeo
Kolega Meštrović,
Matematičari i hemičari se biraju po različitim kriterijumima...
Svako Veće naučnih oblasti ima svoje kriterijume...
Verovatno sam pogrešila kod broja radova za docenta ali za više zvanje mislim da nisam.
Opet napominjem da govorim sa aspekta hemičara.
To Chuck A. Arize and Chia-Lin Chang:
Further to the appointment of research-only academics, how might an Answer to the Question be framed for Research Associates or Research Fellows?
In a number of countries as well as academic disciplines, the positions of Research Associate and/or Research Fellow would refer to fixed-term contract appointments based on research grants, with an obvious focus on research.
Research only Posts. Sammy Kahn the songwriter was asked what comes first: the music or words. He replied : the cheque!
It it is the same here : the money has to come from somewhere if they are not teaching. So same from me about two a year (one special one ok) and across the period I would like to see some grant winning. I do appreciate the opportunities differ by subject, but often there are special schemes for young researchers. I would also expect some collegiality by offering to do some teachers or administration but this must not be over-burdensome nor should it become an excuse.
For promotion at least two quality papers in reputed journals, number along with continuity is very important
You can have any number of publications
But for upgrading to assistant professor or to professor, It is already decided for us in our university that it should be 4-8 papers that will be judged and sure the quality of that papers should be assured .
Best Regards
I agree that the quality of the papers is important. Perhaps, the number need to be increased as well. This will show that the lecturer or assistant professor keeps improving himself as well as keeps contributing to the expansion of science.
I would say a minimum of 4-5 publications is good enough for an academic/researcher with a title of lecturer/assistant professor.
Dear Chuck A Arize ,
I agree with Michael John McAleer ,
in that the quantity and the quality are in not straight forward relation especially in the multispecialty papers that gather many contributers of different specialities ... ,
it will be very good paper with high qyality and accepted for one speciallity but not for the others ... so it will be very disappointing to the others !!!
Best Regards
That person needs to look at the "the journal list" of that college and attempt to follow Chalin Chang's idea! Nowadays, all AACSB universities have what is referred to as journal list. For us, it is a combination of Clarivate and scopus and ABDC.
To Chuck:
I agree that WoS / Clarivate Analytics and Elsevier Scopus are important international rankings websites.
Google Scholar, RG and Academia are also improving their reputation.
It seems that the Australian ABDC list is becoming increasingly well-known.
Valuable info about GS, Academia and ABCD, dr Mc Aleer. Thank you.
To Jelena B Popović-Djordjević :
It is my pleasure.
p.s. ABDC = Australian Business Deans Council.
Moreover, it would be of interesting the reputable Norwegian classification of journals in two categories of quality more generally. Category 1 means good journals, category 2 means excellent journals available at https://dbh.nsd.uib.no/publiseringskanaler/Forside.action?request_locale=en.
Yes, quality is important but I believe that it is captured by rankings and activities of WoS / Clarivate Analytics and Elsevier Scopus, ABDC, Google Scholar and RG (see, Michael J. McAleer's comments above). Furthermore, each university has their own journal list and how many papers one is expected to have especially the types, rank and percentages!
Despite the title
Preprint Academic Journal Guide 2018-the guide to academic journals f...
this is a guide across the wider social sciences which is regularly updated every three years; I find it useful for knowing what journals are out there in what fields. They also publish the methodology they use for doing the ranking. It is pretty detailed with some 57 pages of ranking by sub- discipline.
But nothing compares to actually reading the stuff, for hires we ask for a set of their best recent papers which may or may not yet have been published. And then we read and discuss.
What young professors suffer from is producing more than is necessary in their early years. It tends to hurt them over time. This is because it influences expectations. Simply not over doing would be a wise or good strategy because when over done the dept heads expect performance at that level.
To Chuck:
I agree that expectations can be a double-edged sword, especially when a newly minted academic's perceived talent, determination and productivity cannot meet the expectations.
One of the worst things that can happen to a young academic is to start their career with a publication in a top journal, or the top journal, as expectations will be very high for continuing success.
Aesop's Fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare" come to mind.
To Mike,
We had a case like this, the person had one with his chair in JOF and a second in JFQA and zero for the rest of seven years and was let go. I learned that he is no longer teaching. .
Quality is more important than quantity. One very good paper with something truly novel is better than 100 average papers.
Should have quality publication as much as possible. It should not be counted by number. Though Universities of many countries count publications for promotion.
To Rick Manner:
The difficulty in evaluating a truly novel paper is that the novelty might not be discerned immediately, in which case some average publications might be required for promotion.
Sure, the more papers the better, but also likes to take into account the quality of the journal and the publishing house and sobriety of research papers
Dear Colleagues and Friends from RG, It happens that different scientific institutions have different standards in this matter. In addition, the number of publications is usually uneven in certain types of publication. Usually, scientists have many articles and fewer monographs in their achievements, because writing a monograph requires a greater amount of scientific, editing, editorial work etc. Furthermore, the evaluation of scientific publications mainly concerns the importance of specific publications for the development of scientific knowledge and certain possible applications.
Best wishes
Dariusz Prokopowicz
Publication requirements vary according to the country, culture, quality of the institution and department, and the academic's expectations at different stages of the career cycle.
There is no stipilated number but a lectureer or Asst. Professor should actively inlvonve in research and try to pu;lish
as possible keeping quality of publications and impact of jourmnals in mind.
Teaching and publishing are two completely different skill sets. Both skills a very important. A great teacher who does not produce much research can still be a tremendous asset to his/her institution.
Teaching and publishing are two completely different skill sets. Both skills a very important. A great teacher who does not produce much research can still be a tremendous asset to his/her institution. But they can never be excellent researcher. If they want to improve their innovative ideas they should be find out new way of learning and teaching methodology.
With best,
Sandip Maurya
Quality is the only serious consideration.
Quantity comes a distant second.
This depends on institutions requirements, so quite relative.
Regards.
I agree with auther. Should have quality publication as much as possible.
Hi
No number quality and it depends of the professor time
Ingrid
I agree with Dr. Rama. Should have quality publication as much as possible.
My view is if the Prof can churn out fewer but high quality papers that are translated to actual use to solve an actual problem, then he would be better placed than one who has many papers which may not really amount to much in terms of addressing some probelms.. but again depends with the field
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