I was recently reminded that not every academic wants to publish top papers forever - particularly in journals defined as ‘top’ in the US.
I was reminded by a journal editor- whom I sent a proposal - for a paper on access to publication by people from diverse schools & locations.
The editor penned a short note, commenting the idea was interesting, but why did I think that people in these locations really wanted to publish in these outlets? Perhaps, the editor commented, there was more to academic life than pursuing top papers?
I was again reminded of this when chatting with a colleague.
The colleague noted how much pleasure they derived from program building. They commented that while they still did some research, they focused on more than securing just another paper.
I heard myself echoing this sentiment in a conversation with a young faculty member.
I expressed the thought that when we train students, our job is to prepare them to do research, BUT it’s their choice to pursue it or to optimize other goals in their careers.
These reminders were good for me because lately, I’ve been caught in an intense cycle of research & editorial work & I tend to forget that not every faculty member pursues papers as aggressively.
It’s made me think about professional goals & the range of goals we can chase as academics.
I have friends who focus on teaching, the academic community, their local community, scholarship, entrepreneurship, church, family, & so much more.
What is notable, though, is that when we look across disciplines & countries, much of the discourse is about how to form research goals & realize them - & much less attention is paid to recognizing & realizing goals in other parts of our jobs or lives.
Why is that?
I suspect it’s because research is the most easily quantified measure of performance - simply put - it’s easy to compare people - & declare someone a top researcher!
It is much harder to compare teaching, service, & other faculty activities across institutions - & because of local quirks - almost impossible to declare someone tops in the world.
So why is it a problem?
Because our degrees require research, We tend to be socialized to focus on publishing papers & not attentive to the other ways that our careers afford opportunities to find happiness, satisfaction & positively change the world.
So what to do?
If you are untenured, you can’t take your eye off meeting the research requirements for tenure.
However, you can for additional goals, that are under your control & good for your well-being - like a class innovation, participating in an event, or just having fun.
If you are tenured, you have more latitude - look around - really ask yourself are there goals that would make you happy? & chase them.
I’m going to get back to my pursuit of the perfect bowl of ramen!
Comments