Some of my clients have recently struggled with promotion and retainment even after tenure. The reason? Universities claiming that the tenured professors’ continued research and publication standards were not met. This can become a needlessly cumbersome factual dispute that you want to avoid at all costs. As we all know, the academic world is competitive and probably about to become more so under the current political administration and its influence on state governments (which run public universities). For anyone teaching in private institutions, the situation may be even worse.

Luckily, there are steps you can take to protect yourself. It does, admittedly, require some advance planning and procrastination/last minute avoidance techniques on your part.

Depending on how you look at it, publishing can be drudgery or an interesting part of your life. If the former, make sure you don’t put off your institutional requirements thinking you still have time enough. I recommend meeting your publication requirements a year ahead of time (really). If you cannot do so, then at least six months ahead of time. Family and other pressures can be great, but it is important to always set aside time for research and writing.

Recall that some journals, depending on your discipline and the reputation of the journal, fill up fast and a long time ahead of time. It may be a good idea to save your best articles for the best journals, but to continue publishing other and smaller articles in other journals. More may turn out to be better than just the “right” amount.

Remember too that in today’s changing world, it may be a good idea to both publish in standard journals and in blogs, practitioner journals, online, etc. Even if doing so is not a formal requirement, it will help you demonstrate that you are rendering service to your academic institution, the profession, and that you are thinking outside the box about how to get your ideas out! Doing so can also help you establish connections to the “real world,” which in turn can help you both in your academic career and in finding a job if you want to leave academia (heaven forbid that you would have to).

“Publish or perish” is as true as ever!

For problems with your academic career, please contact myanna.dellinger@gmail.com