Is this you? You’re fresh, new and excited to be in your new postdoc or Assistant Professor position. You’re ready to accept any responsibility, handle any task and fill any role that comes your way. After all, you want to contribute to your department, make your family proud and maybe even impress your superiors. You work long hours; sit-in at numerous meetings, some of which you chair yourself, and you get excellent feedback from colleagues and students alike about your teaching.
Many early-career researchers tend to approach their first academic appointment in this way. Sounds like a great start, right? Here’s the catch though, out of these well-intentioned group of newcomers, unfortunately, many come to realize at their end-of-contract review that they’d fallen short of meeting the expectations of their university. They learn, that their publication output is unsatisfactory. Has that happened to you? Or maybe, you were more fortunate to get the ‘Remember-to-publish’ advice from a well-meaning colleague or had one of those ultimatum-type warnings from a superior that basically sums up to the message of ‘publish or perish’. Yet, you probably ended up being so consumed by the weight of your other job-related responsibilities that you felt that you didn’t have the time to focus on academic research, let alone publishing.
Now, you could look to blame somebody for not letting you know or for having so much to do that you couldn’t breathe, but what sense would that make!!! Below are a few things that you would want to practice so that you’re in a better position by the time your next review rolls around. If, however, you’ve just joined your faculty and haven’t experienced the distress outlined above, well good for you – Enlightenment is here!
Find out about your responsibilities and terms of employment
To meet those requirements that speak to not only your specific departmental responsibilities but also the more general terms of your employment as an academic staff, you’ve got to find out what they are. These are usually found in your university’s staff guides and staff intranet. When you get your hands on all necessary and relevant information, create a repository (I have a “Know my Job” e-folder), read it all carefully and ask questions on anything for which you need clarification.
For faculty, the number of publications (and research impact – in another post) is important. The acceptable number tends to vary from discipline to discipline and university to university but they may be stated as, for example, a minimum of 2 or 3 academic papers in a high-tiered journal per calendar year. So, get in the know!
Begin from your PhD thesis
If you don’t know where to start, begin with your PhD thesis – you know, that big book that seemed to have consumed your life for at least three years. Look through your findings and decide on an article or chapter that could be developed and published from it. Many early-career researchers do this. Publishing papers from your thesis makes your work more accessible to a wider audience than those that may read your thesis; thus making it more likely to be cited.
Set aside time to do research
Now that you know what is required and you know where to start, you need to get to work. You may ask, “But how?” I know, with all that you already have to do, this may seem impossible. Just remember that a little goes a long way. It is likely that you were hoping for a huge block of time to sit and focus on research activities. I have news for you: Wake-up! That was your PhD! For those of you who didn’t enjoy that luxury, you should know better – that block of time may never come or if it does come, it still may not be sufficient to get enough done to satisfy your university’s requirements. As a busy faculty member, you now need to purposefully block time to get your research done. Yes, you heard right. At least one day per week to do research-related activities MUST be protected on your schedule. Of course, you can do what works for you but be practical. I’ve advised colleagues and PhD students to block as little as an hour and half first thing each morning before they get into their day. Those who’ve taken the advice have praised how well it works, allowing them to be productive and to prioritize before the busyness of the day overwhelms them. The wisdom in choosing the mornings is that if you block a few hours in the evening after a long day having come from work or having put your 2-yr old to bed, you’d likely be too tired to read that 40-page book chapter, analyze a 15-page interview transcript or write a comprehensible section of a journal article. But ‘you do you’. If you can manage to put in some time after work, that’s great. The aim is to remain consistent and keep at those research activities, so that you can see the ‘publishing fruits’ of your labour.
Dr. Rinnelle Lee-Piggott is a Lecturer at the University of the West Indies (St. Augustine). Her research interests include school & principal leadership, school & system improvement & education privatization.
