How many publications do you aim to have by graduation?

[Faith786]

On 4/12/2020 at 12:23 PM, Adelaide9216 said:

Amazing  Good luck!

I just got the news yesterday that I will be writing a book chapter for a peer-reviewed book! I got the acceptance to my proposal!

Thank you and congratulations to you as well!!! Wohooo!!!

[Miss Brightside]

I started my PhD two and a half years ago and am expected to defend this Fall, I only have 3 publications so far (conference proceedings, one of them very prestigious). I was due to present part of my work to four conferences but they were cancelled due to COVID-19, if there isn't a second wave they will probably be held sometime in the Fall.

[Adelaide9216]

@Miss Brightside You can list those on your CVs even if they were cancelled. 

https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/canceled-conferences

Edited April 23, 2020 by Adelaide9216

[Miss Brightside]

Thank you, @Adelaide9216 ?

[Faith786]

On 4/22/2020 at 7:21 AM, Miss Brightside said:

I started my PhD two and a half years ago and am expected to defend this Fall, I only have 3 publications so far (conference proceedings, one of them very prestigious). I was due to present part of my work to four conferences but they were cancelled due to COVID-19, if there isn't a second wave they will probably be held sometime in the Fall.

Hello, I have a few questions, if you don't mind me asking:

What are your goals in terms of jobs/career? 

Is your field in computer sciences? 

I was presenting a lot at conferences and I also have papers from conferences published as abstracts, but I was advised that peer-reviewed journal articles or pee-reviewed book chapters are necessary to compete in the tenure track job market, especially in disciplines such as computer science. 

At that point, I stopped presenting papers at conferences and have focused my efforts on those latter things. 

Thoughts? 

Thank you!

[Suraj_S]

I have 11 (one in press). Don't recommend this if the goal is to graduate in less than seven years. ?

[Faith786]

On 4/12/2020 at 12:23 PM, Adelaide9216 said:

Amazing  Good luck!

I just got the news yesterday that I will be writing a book chapter for a peer-reviewed book! I got the acceptance to my proposal!

Super awesome, you should do a happy dance!!! Congratulations!!

[renea]

In my field (English- rhet/comp specific), I have heard wildly different answers for this question from one (laughable, maybe in the 80s) to 8-9 (which seems near impossible). This is of course if your goal is a tenure-track job. I see people landing TT jobs who have 8 plus publications, and I see others who only have 3-4. I think it's more about where you publish and what your subdiscipline is than the # exactly. I think it also depends on your position and the university itself. I have just started my 3rd year of my PhD and I have one single authored publication (online), one single authored book chapter accepted and under revision, and one co-authored special issue publication accepted and under revision. My goal is to have 6 publications (not necessarily all published but at least accepted). My goal is at least one publication in a major journal for the field and at least one publication in print (since my current ones are all digital). It seems each year that the job market is more and more competitive, but I personally think publications are only one part of an entire package. 

[Miss Brightside]

On 4/22/2020 at 2:21 PM, Miss Brightside said:

I started my PhD two and a half years ago and am expected to defend this Fall, I only have 3 publications so far (conference proceedings, one of them very prestigious). I was due to present part of my work to four conferences but they were cancelled due to COVID-19, if there isn't a second wave they will probably be held sometime in the Fall.

Update: I still haven't defended, but have come a long way in just one year. In the months to come, I'll have two articles published in peer-reviewed journals, and I'm also working on two chapters for edited volumes. I had another two publications in conference proceedings, and will participate in five more conferences, via Zoom, in the following months. I also had at least ten rejections in just one year. I'm sharing this update because I was super stressed last year, so I want to remind everyone that things can and will get better.

[Suraj_S]

On 5/14/2020 at 10:21 PM, Suraj_S said:

I have 11 (one in press). Don't recommend this if the goal is to graduate in less than seven years. ?

My update: actually, this is very much possible...

[Beals]

The difficulty I'm facing is that postdoc applications are due 11 months before I plan to graduate, so I need a good number of pubs by Sept 2021, even though I'll probably defend in July/August 2022.

By the time I graduate I should have 7, two of which will be co-authored and five sole-authored. Six will be in peer reviewed journals, five of which have an impact factor. One is a book chapter. I'll probably have several under review at that time too.

I've learned over the past few years it's hard to make any solid guesses when it comes to publishing though, so who knows! I currently have 3 publications with 2 submitted/under review, and two more in the works. I have plans for at least two others, but haven't started yet (and won't start for a few more months).

Also am beginning to suspect there's a point of diminishing returns for pubs when it comes to the TT job market so am trying not to stress too much.