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[dw2007]

One of the institutions to which I have accepted a conference interview requires a book and three peer-reviewed articles. The institution is a large state university that is not well-known for my discipline, and the dept. has a 2-2 teaching load.

Is this type of publishing standard the norm in the humanities? I expected to have to produce a book, but three peer-reviewed articles on top of a book seems like a lot for a non-elite institution.

[mended_drum]

Depending on how many students you have per class, it's only slightly worse than I would expect for a 2-2 load.

[dw2007]

The faculty teach a 200-student survey course (with 3 T.A.s) and a grad seminar.

[ls410]

We are on a 4-4 load and faculty in the humanities are expected to have more than the book. 

[all_my_frenemies]

That actually sounds pretty sweet.

[pournelle]

sounds about standard for a 2/2 load; esp. if there's pre-tenure research leave.

[the_honey_badger]

One of the institutions to which I have accepted a conference interview requires a book and three peer-reviewed articles. The institution is a large state university that is not well-known for my discipline, and the dept. has a 2-2 teaching load.

Is this type of publishing standard the norm in the humanities? I expected to have to produce a book, but three peer-reviewed articles on top of a book seems like a lot for a non-elite institution.

Well I'm at a 3/3 state U---sometimes you can get a break and do a 3/2 with the right mix of Gigantic Survey and grad seminar but not often---and you need a book *out* and either two articles in journals considered first tier in your subfield or *significant* and demonstrable progress on book #2 when the file goes in to the committee the summer *before* the file goes to the faculty for review and voting and up the food chain. This is the standard "bar" and there is an expectation that you will have other "lesser" publications that include book reviews, encyclopedia articles or conference proceedings.  Conferences? They like 2-3 per year and one should be a major discipline or subfield organization.

 We are certainly NOT "known" in my humanities discipline and only occasionally show up on "Tier 3" of the US News and World Report list. Usually the U is "unranked."  We do not have any sort of pre-tenure leave and only the most recent hires got more than 500.00 in "start-up" money for research.  I have regularly taught 300+ in survey both semesters of each year with 2 TAs and two upper division courses. Those are supposed to be capped at 25 but generally they allow students in the 300-level up to 45 and the 400-level up to 30.   The culture here is to have three preps and for the supervising professor for the large survey to do one-third of the grading of essays. So...I regularly grade for 170 students (or more: this semester I have 200 because we have increased enrollment).

Its not that uncommon.  The market over the last decade and the increasing desire of universities like mine to want to "climb" in the rankings allows them to demand this and get it. Actually, your interviewing school sounds good to me.

[ann05]

That seems reasonable to me.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

You're talking "per year", right? - DvF

[mouseman]

You're talking "per year", right? - DvF

I was wondering this as well.

[whiteknight]

OP,

It sounds like maybe you're a bit naive (or maybe just overwhelmed) about what's expected for tenure. If I'm reading your post right, I suspect that you are in history. (My apologies if I am wrong.) It used to be that a book was enough for tenure at a lot of IHEs, but nowadays, it isn't unusual for new history Ph.D.s to be expected to have book contracts before getting hired, much less for tenure.

The job market has changed in the past few years, and you would do well to consider what it takes to get tenure in that market.

DVF, 3 peer-reviewed articles in history per year would be unthinkable.

[jossfritz]

I think this is standard. In fact, think in the short term: third year review--by the beginning of your third year most places will expect at least one, preferably two or three, articles out in addition to some sense that you're moving on the book. Keep in mind that nearly any 2-2 load will require at least one book for tenure (some require two) and it takes time not only to write the thing but also to get a publisher's attention, go through contract, proofs, etc.

So, one bit from your dissertation out to a good peer review journal next week. Then revise an old seminar paper and send it out; then focus 100% on the book. It'll happen if you work toward it rather than worrying about it.

[systeme_d_]

The OP's description is exactly the same as the tenure requirements at my R2 State University in the history department.

(Other humanities departments vary, in terms of courseload as well as in terms of publication expectations.)

[joelp]

One of the institutions to which I have accepted a conference interview requires a book and three peer-reviewed articles. The institution is a large state university that is not well-known for my discipline, and the dept. has a 2-2 teaching load.

Is this type of publishing standard the norm in the humanities? I expected to have to produce a book, but three peer-reviewed articles on top of a book seems like a lot for a non-elite institution.

I am in the market this year, and that requirement is lower than any r1 with a 2-2 teaching load that I know of. I even know at least a couple r1s with 3-3 teaching loads that have higher requirements (and these are tier 4 universities).

Last year I interviewed at an r2 institution. They had done away with pre-tenure sabbatical, course releases for new faculty, and had canceled the master's program (so no more RAs) AND they still expected an article a year at least (a book would count as 2 or 3 publications, depending on it).

And, to be completely honest, there are candidates that are not very far from that in the market right now. Heck, there is one guy I know who has a book contract, one sole authored publication in the top journal in my field, and one sole authored publication in the top journal in his specialty.

Granted, my social science field might be a little different. But 1 book and 3 articles sounds very reasonable, and completely doable in an institution with a 2-2 teaching load.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

DVF, 3 peer-reviewed articles in history per year would be unthinkable.

Why? 

I'm not asking to be confrontational or facetious, my university periodically tries to come up with some kind of uniform set of hallmarks for "research productivity", and it would be useful to have some kind of convincing, objective way of understanding (if not explicitly comparing) the publication norms for various fields. - DvF