I think a successful scientist is the one who is a good mentor to students and her/his office door is always open for consultation and giving advise. This is my understanding of success even after 20 years of teaching and publishing many papers.

Publications and Impact. That said, there are several main components to what's called an academic cv which relate to inter-faculty position and promotion including: publications (quantity, journal impact factors, citation indices etc), funding, administrative duties, teaching scores, M-level teaching, public relations/media citation.  

I would say that what determines the success of an academic is the extent to which their ideas, publications and teaching aid human progress and critique phenomena antithetical to human well-being and survival. That would be real success, as opposed to the conventional and mainstream pro-capitalist criteria.  

I agree with all the contributions thus far. When others use your work to improve the quality of teaching and the discipline that's a yardstick for success.

Limiting "success" to publications or "experience" is a reality one does not have to agree with.

What is success? Recognition from peers? The Nobel? For some it might even be a healthy bank account.

The point is that success can have many dimensions and tons of publications does not mean the academic in question is a good "teacher"  and vice versa.

Best

Roland

Success is relative. However, there is a generally acceptable standard for an academic to be term "successful" in academics. The number of publications, years of teaching/research experience are certainly some of the yardstick used to measure success. Another, is the impact of all these at local, national, regional and international levels. An academic can be successful at the local or national level and make impact within that sphere.

However, in today's world, regional/international success is very important in being termed a successful academic. Even those who many have acknowledged as having attained very high success internationally are still working.

So,  everyone in the academic world must define what level of success they desire to attain and keep working. 

Frankly, it is the most important question here in RG platform.

In order to be a qualified researcher and build your brilliant academic reputation, you as a researcher have to follow some points, where such building process is an accumulated one, means,

I hope to be right in my post.

Emad

http://www.ascb.org/dora/

What qualifies an academic as being successful? Is it the number of publications or years of teaching/research experience or what?

Think there is no hard & fast rule on this.  In my personal opinion, academic success should based on how much knowledge s/he has contributed which can be measured by various criteria like no. of publication, no. of manuscripts s/he has reviewed, no. of journals s/he has edited, impact of the research s/he has involved, no. of research transitioned from R&D lab to industrial implementation, no. of post-graduates s/he has successfully supervised, awards that s/he has received etc. which can be subjective from one scholar to another.

An integrated combination of years of experience, published research and scientific titles, scientific contributions, etc.

An excellent article about the issue!

Science street smarts: how to succeed in science in the real world!

I don’t claim to be a pillar of scientific wisdom, but I have learned certain lessons, sometimes the hard way, that I hope to pass on to others here. I’m sure I have a lot more to learn myself, but perhaps I can help you avoid some of the landmines...

• Science is as much about the people as the research.
• Don’t burn bridges.
• Don’t get trapped by the high impact journal black hole.
• Continue to develop yourself as a scientist and person. 
• Work on your communication skills. 
• Be a positive person who nonetheless can say “No”.
•  Make a plan and have goals.

https://ipscell.com/2011/09/science-street-smarts-how-not-to-get-your-butt-kicked-on-the-research-playground/

There is a reciprocal relationship between education and scientific research. The more research, the more theoretical and applied knowledge you can use in education. So both are an important factor for academic success.

What about the students "capability"? Are they able to master knowledge of the newest "science"?  :-)

 People like to have a measurable value to judge people and scientists as rational thinking people  like it twice.

There are a lot of scores like publications, citations, scores, years of experience, prizes a.s.o., which may help - but cannot  give an exhausting picture of the merits of a person.

All these numbers cannot compensate a personal impression, which is of course subjective and varies with the observer.

I think a successful scientist is the one who is a good mentor to students and her/his office door is always open for consultation and giving advise. This is my understanding of success even after 20 years of teaching and publishing many papers.

yes

Academic success is a wide Recognition of scientific and/or teaching achievements. It is a high Respect from scholar colleagues in the field, and a fabulous Reputation among generations of students.

These things (R3 rule) in one or another way usually somewhat correspond with a number of formal criteria already discussed above. 

It depends upon what are we speaking about: is it formal career enabling to receive grants, titles, prizes, job in major scientific (or other) institutions, high position on the "monkey ladder" &c. (in this case of course publications in "prestigious" journals, Impact Factors, citation indices, h-indices, memberships, and similar stuff are decisive)? To me, this does not mean real scientific success: I know more than one person who achieved all this, occupy highest (up to ministerial) positions, whose publications are widely cited as almost "Last Word of Science" - and nevertheless I (and not only I) would not call them serious, successful scientists.

As to me, I would feel myself successful scientist if I can, looking in the mirror, say with honest conviction "well, Roman, you have contributed to the knowledge of the world more than in your (personal, political, financial and any other) situation could have been expected, you have published many original and scientifically important results, interpretations and views, you did this by honest means (not by "tricks" or "make-believe"-s like those described by yourself in your polemical papers), you  helped other colleagues whenever you had an occasion and as far as you could, &c. - yes, Roman, you are a successful scientist". And of course the same are my criteria in evalustion of others' (whether "amateur" or highest-position Prof. Dr. Academician) scientific success.

All the best to all participants !

Roman

There are several debates on this topic on the RG. I can only repeat: I know great scientists who can not learn well. And I know excellent teachers who are not great scientists. Especially for the teaching of basic subjects I prefer a great teacher :-))

The assessment, recognition and acceptance of a person as an academic successor in his academic domain was and is now a very imprecise-determined activity. These activities should be implemented both by the academic community and by the social community of each individual state. Also, these activities should be implemented by the international association of the appropriate academic domains. What should be accepted in relation to the previous one is that the mentioned activities should be considered multi-variant: from the aspect of academic assessment, from the platform of social assessment, within the socio-cultural milieu and within the socio-historical milieu. Of course, many different algorithms are used worldwide to identify, evaluate and accept the activities of academic staff as successful activities

University management and adequate associations should regularly and regularly register the academic / research / scientific activities of their members.

I think teaching is the one who makes an academic successful, maybe time is not available in research!

Saheed, I am doing something very close to this topic now, this question is quite apt and timely too, unfortunately, most of the response here are from foreign countries out our local situation. If my guess is as good as yours, you are specifically trying to look at our local situation through  a comparative prism. A successful academics is one working in a research institution  where the major tenet for establishing that institution as is globally held is for three main reasons: teaching, research and community services. While this is true, to meet these three cardinal points with pleasure, happiness that you are teaching your students under your care very well and the students attest to this fact themselves, carrying out researches that find solutions to fundamental community problems and then transferring the product of this your research to solve development problems of the community is the climax of a successful academics. In recent times, the respects for academics is waning day in day out in developing countries because most of our political gladiators are product of disjointed academic pursuits, they have disjointed certificate, others have their certificate through sandwich programs, while others have theirs through correspondent or distant earning program, so much so that the value attached to academics coupled with their meager allocation to academic and the management thereof is very embarrassing. They see academic putting in all the needed effort to design, develop and invent anything is like trying to test the ego of these low educated leaders, unfortunately, these are the types of leaders we have.  I see myself as a successful academics because:

1) He must have bagged all the degrees needed to be gotten in his profession and I got them through a dint of hard work and perseverance

2)  He must have published extensively and globally his works are read and cited and used to solve society's problems within and outside my country

3) Most of his works have been cited and are impact factored in most journals and data bases

4) His local university may not necessarily see the value of these publication for envy or hatred, but it has been used, read, cited for other journals indicating that the work is useful

5) The students under your tutelage are happy that they are learning and you are satisfied that the students are performing better under you

6) A successful academic should be able to meet the need of his family and immediate environment, financially and otherwise, but unfortunately, in Nigeria, there is a problem with this very point.

Saheed, a successful academics should have something in the archives for future reference, but we pray government would make haste and improve our take home pay which is normally not enough to even take us to the gate of the university where we teach.

The years of teaching is no doubt important. But during thse years of teaching, an academic MUST PUBLISH tons of journal articles/books etc in order to be relevant and to be a convincing and effective mentor to yound ones. Staying away from publishing is academic suicide. It is a very bad habit which most universities do not tolerate.

Its hard to answer such a broad question, given the range of disciplines and fields of study that academics cover but it is definitely not only a publications list, research and teaching experience but also the impact and influence that an academic can show resulted from such activities that help prove their success as an academic. Has their work been translated, often cited, used by government and others in inquiries? What have students and colleagues said about their teaching? What awards and other types of achievement do they have? There are many academic activities you don't mention that I think add significantly to the quality of an academic: peer reviewing, positions on scholarly journal editorial boards, roles in organising seminars and conferences, experience in industry, government and non-government organisations associated with their fields of scholarly expertise. Great question but narrowing it down in terms of type of academic would be useful.

A very comprehensive and objective response Anitra!

Debra

Academics are scholars who engage in either teaching or teaching and reasearch. A scholar whose principal job is teaching will be considered successful when he/ she has acquired depth of working knowledge on the subject and acquired wisdom to handle students learning needs so that they be successful. If the academic is both a teaching and research faculty, he/she is successful if successful on both frontiers, teaching and research publication with substantial amount that brings recognition by colleagues and scholaqrs in the field. Different from these ways, an academic will be an instant celebrity if he/she solves an existing and  longstanding problem in the field. In this case we may have degree of success, more successful than succesful. 

How to build a successful academic career?

What is the most important to create a successful research career?

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_build_a_successful_academic_career

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_most_important_to_create_a_successful_research_career

Both research outputs and knowledge transfer (teaching) are paramount to a successful academic career. I agree with Dr Maria that impact factors of published journals should play a major role in assessing research outputs.

No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship.

- Dr. James Comer

As inspired by Len's contribution, I do continue about how to build the relationships of respect, due to James Corner.

Building a respectful relationship doesn't mean becoming the student's buddy. It means that teachers both insist on high-quality work and offer support. When my colleagues and I interviewed high school students in 1998 about what actions show that a teacher has respect for them, students identified the following:

The teacher calls me by my name.

The teacher answers my questions.

The teacher talks to me respectfully.

The teacher notices me and says "Hi."

The teacher helps me when I need help.

The nonverbal signals a teacher sends are a key part of showing respect. I have found that when students feel they have been "dissed" by a teacher, they almost always point to nonverbals, rather than words, as the sign of disrespect. Nonverbal signals communicate judgment, and students can sense when a teacher's intent is to judge them rather than to offer support. Although it's hard to be conscious of nonverbal signals at times, one way to sense how you're coming across is to deeply question your intent. Your gestures and tone will likely reflect that intent...

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/Nine-Powerful-Practices.aspx

Dear Prof. Ljubomir Jacić,

Your excellent and a very educational entry above proves again that teaching is not just a professional knowledge of a particular subject matter. One is to be a great educator as well.

LM

Great education is a refuge from incompetence:

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

- Derek Bok 

When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes he asked whether he can do anything for his famous teacher. And Diogenes just simply said, 'Just stay out of my light'.

- Alexander Kroll

The foundation of every state is the education of their youth.

- Diogenes Laertius

Mastering, developing, and transmitting knowledge, easiest way possible, added to positive impact on society and human progress.

Successful academic learns from his own failures, he listens both his students and his associates. He respects different opinions and adopt changes.. Good academics makes continuous improvement in his work. He is life'long learner!

Maria is right in her question, How do you define success? Academically is it probably important to take a long look at how your university defines academic success. At a research university (R-I), research is king and is defined by publications, discoveries or patents. They really don't care if you can teach, it is probably done by graduate students anyway. At a teaching university (D-II, D-III or others), you are expected to be an outstanding teacher. Scholarship is valued and will be required to achieve tenure, but teaching is probably the primary measure. An amazing academic is good at both!

Dear Prof. Greg W. Etter,

In the essence, the key sentence in your entry is: "An amazing academic is good at both!" That should be the academic trend of success.

People, who do scientific research are expected to learn and know as to how to teach it. Alternatively, people who teach sciences are expected to know what is going on at the sciences' frontiers, and be able to teach the vanguard results as a natural follow up from the established foundational basics.

Excellent contributions from colleagues, especially from Prof. Ljubomir, with whom I agree. Greetings!

An excellent article by Andreas Tolk

"Whenever a university environment a promotion or a tenure decision comes up, the committee must decide if the applicant is qualified. One of the defining characteristics that are evaluated in this context is the question about scholarly activities. The committee has to answer the question: is the applicant a good scholar? But what are the characteristics of a good scholar? Is it the number of publications? Or is it the number of references to the publications? Can we define tangible measures, or are the intangibles as important – or even more important – when we make a decision if someone is a good scholar or not? Is popularity a measure? ..."

Article What are the Characteristics of a Scholar?

Thank you all for your responses.

@ Ljubomir Jacić thanks for your contribution, the article is a very good one and highlighted many qualities of a successful academic. However, it appears the measure of success for a university based researcher differs from those of institute based researchers.

Those who are efficient in helping students succeed academically.

In my opinion, everything stems from a set of factors, such as efficiency as a teacher, qualified research and relevant publications in indexed journals, something that is achieved with many years of dedication and experience!

People who posses knowledge, know what are the key barriers in getting a complete understanding of that particular material, and can quickly and clearly open the door to newcomers. Yet, possessing knowledge isn't sufficient enough in reaching new scientific results. One ought to be inquisitive and inspired in applying intuition, imagination, and professional analytical skills. Needless to say, it requires quite some hard work over extended periods of time.

Len Leonid Mizrah

good contribution.

Congrats!

I believe all are important as long as we contribute meaningfully to the society at large