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[curious]

As grad students we were once advised that we need 3-5 essay publications (not reviews, etc.) on our CV in order to be competitive in the academic job market fresh out of graduate school.  Then there's this issue of top-tier journals versus those less highly ranked.

What's the standard? I've got more than the requisite, but am trying to stay on track.

[Duff man]

In the sciences, the minimum is 5+ in good journals in your specific discipline (primary author, more if consistently lower).  The bigger requirement now is having postdoctoral experience.  The 2 recent hires in my department (bio) have both had about 7-10 and had postdoctoral experience (pools of job applicants were about 30-50).  I am at a midwestern R1 in case that is useful.  Other things that are helpful:
1. Teaching. Some places don't care (or at least some search committees), especially if you are going for 50:50 or 25:75 teaching:reseach post.  For most if you have some experience it is helpful or necessary.
2.  Service.  Did you serve in your department (grad organizations, grad school committees, reviewing manuscripts, etc.)?
3.  Attending meetings/conferences.  Have you presented?  This gives you a track record beyond pubs.
4.  Grants.  Very important in areas where research is extramurally funded.  Having some $ makes you look like you could get more.
If you have "more than the requisite" that's great, but if that's all you have I would try to hit some other areas.
Good Luck.

[Science_Guy]

Even within the sciences, there is a huge variation in what is considered "productive" from one sub-discipline to the next.

In chemistry, you're expected to produce 2 first-author publications per year, every year.  You can get away with less, but only if the papers you're  publishing are in Science, Nature or JACS.

[anon]

I'm in Educational Psychology.  I know of two people who got very good jobs without publications (one had a great post-doc, the other had lots of teaching experience and both had great studies forthcoming).  Another friend I know got a job with one publication.  I don't think these people are typcial though, and I'm interested to hear what others with more experience will say.

[Sofia]

Duff Man's advice is good.  I got my first t-t job last year (life sciences, R1) with 4 yrs of post-doc experience, 12 peer-reviewed publications, 1 semester of teaching a large intro class, a famous post-doc advisor, and a half mil in grant money.   I think they're all critical factors. I don't know anyone in my program who got a t-t job straight out of grad school.

[%sig%]

[Just Beginning]

This may be a bit off this topic, but I have been wondering. In my field (chemistry) it is quite common for one grad student (or post doc) to get a project in which she or he can crank out 5-6 publications, while a second person might have a more technically challenging project from which they get one or two, if lucky. I suppose this may be true for professors as well-- the number of publications may vary greatly depending on the type of research. Do search committees take this sort of thing into consideration?

[%sig%]

[Dr. D.]

I teach in the allied health sciences area, in my RI, we aim for doctoral students to get one publication per year minimally. Of course they need to get 2-3 per year once they have a tenure track job. ALL of our recent hires have had at least 4 (and some have had more) publications in the top journals when hired. It does depend on the field, but we want our graduates to have a shot at the top schools.

[Feamls Science PhD]

To Just Beginning,
    I think in the sciences (in in molecular bio), there is more leeway on the number of pubs coming out of your thesis. I was told the benchmark was three, but one may be a lit review etc. Since these jobs all require post doc experience, that's where you want to crank them out. My post-doc advisor sets me up with two projects- a crank out the data one, and a more high risk project that if it pays of, can be big name pubs and a long term research project.

[anon]

Wondering if any senior people might address this situation?

[humanities guy]

I think its more difficult to get publications out in the humanities.  Our work doesn't always follow the logical progression of some scientific experiment.  Alot more reading and creativity are involved.  That said, I landed a visiting assistant prof position at a liberal arts college with no publications and a tenure track at a tier 2 state university with one forthcoming.  Of course I had a ton of teaching and creative/service projects.  I imagine the requirement would be greater for those aspiring to R1 schools.  But I would be interested in finding out about others in the humanities too.

[AnoN]

I think the best people to ask these questions are the successful people in your own department.

There is much too much variation between fields for you to get a good answer about your specific field from this forum -- but you may get a good idea about the differences in fields.

For example, I know people in several business fields that landed great jobs -- at top schools -- with zero pubs out of grad school.

[EC]

I think one way to find out is to look at the publication record of a newly tenured associate professor at the place that you want to apply. If your publication record is at least 1/6 of his/hers, then you are competitive.

[senior humanist]

the typical R1 standard is two major articles in refereed publications per year and a book every 5-6 years.

[Senior Scholar]

Same standard here as senior humanist names. People who do not have a book within the last five years, or a major project underway and under contract, even if they are full professors, lose the right to teach PhD students and serve as director of dissertations, though they can continue to serve on dissertation committees.

We generally hire people (1) with a new Ph.D. and at least one article in press or (preferably) (2) people with 3-4 years teaching in a non t-t or non R-1 position, and a book under contract. We absolutely require a book for tenure: it has to be in page proofs in year 6, when the tenure decision is made.

[Trini to d bone]

I  have also wrestled with the issue of publications and being told to have at least 3 on my CV prior to being considered for a faculty position. I however had to come to the realization that I could not finish a  great Ph. D. and do good publications while also raising a child. I was advised by my department chair to become more versed in practice areas and that this would give me the edge. She said that this is seen as being able to apply the theories I would write about which is just as impresive as publications. Once I am hired I would have time and support to write. This advice paid off I just landed a position with only pending publications.

[%sig%]