Having sat on a number of search committes at various universities my general impression is that publications are not necessary but they are part of the balance sheet. If you coming out of a top 10-15 department then that credential can carry some weight. But if you are coming out of the top 20-50 then being done and having published will help you land an R1 job. I agree with above that committee's look for signals and they don't want to read your dissertation.
Publications.... Really?
(113 posts) (3 voices)-
Posted 4 years ago #
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I second the above (^^^) about personal circumstances. Plus, if any of these "thought experiment scenarios" were to happen to you, your letter writers could make note of them to potential employers. [Sidebar: two of those three scenarios have happened to me. Life is tragic. You keep going, especially because things are otherwise going to get worse down the road.] Have you ever tried prepping three courses, holding the hands of 300+ undergrads, and remaining productive in a publishing capacity with an eye toward tenure while raising three kids under the age of five?! No trauma necessary--it is called "life." You've got it good in grad school--take advantage of it and publish while you can!
And I most definitely second the comment about lecturing faculty for their "hostility," especially from someone who seems to take every comment that differs from his/her preconceived notions as some sort of malicious personal attack.
OP: sit back, relax, have a hot toddy, and be content with the fact that you have stimulated an interesting debate into a topic that many people are interested in. Not everything on here is about you. Taking on (even a fraction of) the whole political science community isn't exactly a winning proposition, either in real life or behind the anonymity of the blogosphere.
Posted 4 years ago # -
[Buncha crap deleted]
Posted 4 years ago # -
Dear students,
Please submit your work to journals. That's the name of the game. Sure, it's good to have your own profs read them beforehand, but go ahead and submit all your work.
Posted 4 years ago # -
I would say that it's OK to submit if you have at least presented the paper at a conference and made the appropriate improvements. But be somewhat realistic about where it can get accepted. Though, I think it doesn't hurt to overreach at at least a little, because you never know.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Submitting and getting rejected is part of the learning process. I'm sure the person who asked graduate students not to submit has had things rejected. Of course, you should have reason to think it is ready (from advisers or conference participants), but how can one be expected to begin producing without throwing oneself out there?
Posted 4 years ago # -
Irrespective of whether you place your paper, are we generally agreed that
better journal -> better comments ?
Posted 4 years ago # -
^No, not really. Just guessing, but I'd say the predictors of good comments are 1) how good a fit the piece is for the journal (if the paper is way out of its league, the reviews may be dismissive), 2) whether the reviewer guesses the author is a graduate student (some reviewers try harder to be constructive when the paper reads like something from a student), and 3) the temperament of the reviewer.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Totally agree that submitting and getting rejected is part of the learning process, but training students to be ready to submit is part of the mentoring process. And I, for one, receive far too much stuff to review that never should have been submitted. As graduate instructors, we shouldn't be outsourcing our training to peer reviewers. (And I'm not the one who posted above.)
Posted 4 years ago # -
^^ Not at all. Some of the worst (in terms of quality) reviews I've either received or seen--as another reviewer--have been at top journals. Some of the best at low-ranked journals. Quality is almost entirely dependent upon the reviewer's sense of professional responsibility processes through circumstantial factors. In general, the quality of peer reviewing in our field is disastrous. So bad, in fact, that we should question the weight we accord to peer-reviewed pieces.
And, to preempt the usual dumb ad hom's that come from grad students: yes, I've published in some of the "top" journals in the field and in my subfield.
Posted 4 years ago # -
^^^ My submissions to the APSR have always received at least 1 review that is thoughtful and helpful. The AJPS is, in my experience, much worse.
Posted 4 years ago # -
I just came in, and got tired of reading after page 3, but here's my answer to the original question. I came from top 10 and went to a top 10. I had no publications, but I fit a niche they wanted and my advisors spoke very highly of me.
I've served on search committees, and publications were one signal among many. For people whose CVs and recs we might otherwise have dismissed, top publications earned them a closer look, but we read them and we decide for ourselves if we think the publications really reached that level. And we are also capable of reading unpublished work and comparing it to published work.
A publication in a 2nd-tier journal (i.e. not a top journal, nor a top subfield journal) would mean little to me. Several such publications would suggest that is the best that person could do and would probably lead me to revise my estimate downward.
Talk to your advisor about strategic nuances, but the main thing is to be working hard on something useful.
Posted 4 years ago # -
^
What if the quality of the article was better than the journal it's published in leads you to believe?
I.e inexperienced 1st year grad student unaware of journal ranking system, submits piece to a lesser regarded journal and gets published
Posted 3 years ago # -
Oh boy. *Ducks*
Posted 3 years ago # -
This seems as good a place as any to ask this question. For an ABD, how much is being a co-editor of an anthology (of original pieces) worth on a CV? (note: the publishing company is a legitimate press, but not very well known and not a university press)
Posted 3 years ago # -
^ 0 or sometimes <0.
Posted 3 years ago # -
It's worth zero. Nobody cares. I'm trying as hard as I can not to sound snarky, but this is the legitimate truth. You're much better served spending time on your own research than editing someone elses'. Leave that to someone who already has a job/tenure.
Posted 3 years ago # -
What if it's not the sole publication on the list? i.e., the CV includes two or three articles in decent journals (but not top 3)? Does this in anyway enhance the book as an achievement?
Posted 3 years ago # -
No, a co-edited book just doesn't get you much if any notice as a new entrant on the job market. At best, it just gets you small credits in internal annual merit raise accounting, and at some lower-tier places it will do you some good in checking boxes off for tenure. But fundamentally, it doesn't contribute to a notable record, and the only real advantage is whatever network benefits you got out of working on it and whatever name recognition you get from people using it.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Fair enough, thanks for the feedback
Posted 3 years ago # -
Well, if you are the coeditor--why can't you also get a solo authored chapter in the book? This is not as good as a journal article, but better than just a coeditor line on the CV.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I do have a solo piece in the book (informally peer-reviewed).
Posted 3 years ago #