Does your advisor help you network with other academics or get your stuff published?

[a fragrant plant]

A friend of mine who is in his writing-up stage told me that he is somewhat disappointed of his advisor because he seems to have little interest in helping him to get his stuff published. To be fair, I don't know the quality of his work because he's not in my field. He's also unhappy about the lack of opportunities to network with other academics due to the location/reputation of his university. Is this a norm? Do you have to rely on your own initiatives and motivation? Does your advisor help you broaden your network? Does your advisor give you a chance to co-author with him or her in order to give you a leg up? I want to know if anyone has experienced what my friend is going through and whether or not this is a common experience in graduate school. My undergraduate advisor has invited many of her graduate students to co-author with her and that was how many of them published their first papers. My question is: do you have to climb up the academic ladder all by yourself? How helpful is your advisor?

[eklavya]

I guess it depends on what field you are. I'm in science and in our field, the students are the ones who do most of the research work. The professors mostly come up with an idea and let the students (undergrad or grad) think more about the idea, work on it, develop it and finally publish it if worthy. Therefore the students publish as the primary or secondary authors. They are very helpful, and are ready to go to all lengths and through all hurdles to publish the paper. If a student comes up with an idea and is able to convince that the project will be publication worthy at the end, the professors won't have a problem with it. They are always open to ideas, creativity and of course, any kind of publication-worthy-stuff. Taking undergrad and grad students to conferences, seminars (on dept money) is also quite common, and this is a great opportunity to get to know veteran as well as budding scientists in the field.

It's sad to hear about your friend. I don't think that it is very common though. Any advisor not only wants his/her students to excel, but also wants to show to the board of directors that he/she is making progress in both teaching and research. Hope things will ultimately turn out well for him.

[anthropologygeek]

Reputation of both your adviser and school can play a huge role in you getting published. That's why selecting where to apply and ultimately who to study under is so important for both publishing and getting a job.

[a fragrant plant]

Reputation of both your adviser and school can play a huge role in you getting published. That's why selecting where to apply and ultimately who to study under is so important for both publishing and getting a job.

Can you please give more advice on this matter? I'm in the process of deciding which school to go to!

[Eigen]

It's pretty easy, just look at the publication record of the professors you're interested in working for- see how many papers are published per year relative to the number of grad students in the group, and whether the papers are in high impact journals or not.

[a fragrant plant]

It's pretty easy, just look at the publication record of the professors you're interested in working for- see how many papers are published per year relative to the number of grad students in the group, and whether the papers are in high impact journals or not.

Hi Eigen, but I am not in science.

[Eigen]

Just because you aren't in science doesn't mean you can't look up average publications per grad student relative to the professors. It gives you a good idea of how important publishing is to them.

Might help if you posted your field, since you seem to want more specific advice.

[aginath]

You really do have to look at the "big picture." How long has the [potential] advisor been at the current school? How long have they been in academia? How many different schools have they taught/researched at? Do they hold any administrative positions (program chair, department head, etc.)? How frequently do they publish? In what publications do they most commonly have articles? How many students have they worked with in the past (served on a committee vs. served as chair of the committee)?

I'm fortunate in that my advisor is the department head. His publishing expectation is somewhat lowered based on the administrative unit exchange. That's not to say that he doesn't publish or actively work on projects; he does and I'm asked to help with data analysis and reading/writing as necessary. However, it means that as a second year, I'm already published on a project I designed and I'm the first author on the publication (he is the third author). Also as department head, he has social obligations when we're at conferences and events. He's extremely mindful to introduce me (as well as his other students) to colleagues and encourages us to network and collaborate whenever possible.

When I was looking at making my final selection, my Master's degree committee chair gave me one solid piece of advice, "pick the program that would most emphasize the student-mentor relationship." As a result, I couldn't be happier with my decision.

[fuzzylogician]

In my field it's not very common for professors to publish with their students, at least on anything that is purely theoretical. It's much more common in experimental work - in fact, I am writing a paper with one of my professors right now, and at least one more paper are in the making. The original idea for the experiment was the professors but I developed the idea, came up with the actual experiment and with the theory for interpreting the (unexpected) results, and I'm first author on the paper. The other paper is based on my idea and I have been encouraged to pursue it. I don't feel like I've been given any favors (=invited to publish with the prof in order to "give me a leg up", as you put it). I think I deserve the credit on my work.

My professors from undergrad and MA programs gave me excellent recommendations and made efforts on my behalf which helped me get accepted to some excellent PhD programs in the US. I'm sure my current profs will give me excellent references when I graduate as well. I'm sure they would help me contact people if I couldn't get in touch with them myself, but usually I'll just write a professor at another university by myself if I need anything, I don't ask for an introduction. At conferences it's more or less the same - I'll usually introduce myself, though I've been lucky enough to have profs introduce me to their friends, who are prominent figures in our field, on a couple of occasions. I never asked for the introductions, I was luckily standing nearby and I guess they were discussing something related to joint work of ours.

OP: I'm not sure I understand what your friend is disappointed about. If it's about not being encouraged to publish, I understand that it's difficult because as students we can't always tell if our work is advanced enough or even good enough. But at least in my case, if I ask then I get clear answers. Has your friend tried asking his advisor about publishing? If the problem is about not publisthing with the advisor, well, that really depends on the situation but first of all it's not automatic, and second of all that's something he should have investigated before he decided to attend his current program. He can't just expect the prof to want to publish with him. Same for introducing him to people--did he ask and the advisor refuse to introduce him to someone, or is he expecting the professor to do his networking for him?

It's easy enough to check a prof's publication record and find out how often they publish and if they publish with their students. Just go on their webpage or google their name in google scholar. An advisor who is active and respected in their field is very important not only for providing useful guidance during the writing and publishing process but also for providing your work with the credibility that is attached to famous names. You don't necessarily have to publish with your advisor -- in my field it's clear enough who you worked with based on the department you study in and from reading the acknowledgments in your papers. Being backed by someone famous certainly helps getting published and gaining a name for oneself. However, different advisors have different ideas about pushing students to publish. Some profs I know won't say anything on their own initiative but will provide advice about when/where/whether I should publish if I ask. Others will tell my themselves that they think e.g. that I should submit project X to conference Y. Again, it all depends, but it usually pays to actively ask for what you want much more than to sit by and wait for things to magically happen.

[a fragrant plant]

Thanks all for the great advices. Indeed, self-motivation plays a great part in graduate school. What did you do to get your work published in an academic journal? Which journal(s) did you approach first? Any tips?

[Eigen]

Thanks all for the great advices. Indeed, self-motivation plays a great part in graduate school. What did you do to get your work published in an academic journal? Which journal(s) did you approach first? Any tips?

Your field would be a great help here. Otherwise, journal recommendations are going to be pretty hit-or-miss.

[aginath]

Your field would be a great help here. Otherwise, journal recommendations are going to be pretty hit-or-miss.

This x eleventy billion. Once you've identified the key journals in your field, research them thoroughly. Look up the editing board and become familiar with their work (especially if you cite any of them!). Find out the journal's acceptance rate, turn around expectation/requirements, and ask faculty in your department about their experience getting published in that specific journal. If you're lucky, one of your faculty is or has been a reviewer for the journal and can tell you specifically what they're (and what they aren't) looking for in an article.