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[hikerprof]

For those of you who have 4/4 loads, what seems to be the standard publication requirements for tenure in your department (especially for those of you in the social sciences)? I know this can vary a lot depending on the university, discipline, and department but I'm curious to see the responses to this.

We are currently reviewing this issue in my department. There are some faculty who believe we should expect around 5 peer-reviewed articles and paper presentations at one conference or more per year and others who believe this is a bit much given the workload.

Thanks.

[cheminot]

I am a new faculty member with 4/4 teaching load at SLAC, and there is no way I would be able to handle five publications in peer-reviewed journals per year. Teaching takes a lot of time: to make students engaged, one needs to prepare a lot of images, interesting stories for each lecture, and so on. When the term begins, I, unfortunately, has no time to do any research.

[hikerprof]

Just to clarify--no one thinks faculty should publish 5 articles per year. Some believe that we should expect 5 total from those going up for tenure along with presenting at least one paper a year at a conference.

[threefive]

I teach a 4/4 in the sciences. We require one peer-reviewed publication and 5 other scholarly activities, which can include presentations at conferences. I just looked up what is required for social science faculty at my school, and they actually only require 1 pub with 2 other scholarly activities.

I should have 5 peer-reviewed pubs by tenure time myself, along with about 1-2 conference presentation per year. However, it is NOT easy when teaching a 4/4 load. Not a single person in my department other than me would make tenure with a 5-pub requirement. It's doable, but you will lose some otherwise good colleagues with that high an expectation.

[backontrack]

I think 5 articles is a bit heavy with a 4/4 load.  I've had social science positions at two different universities with a 4/4 load.  One institution expected 3 sole-authored peer reviewed articles for tenure, or a book.  The other was also 3, but did not have the sole-authored requirement (though if multiple authors a leadership role was expected).  other scholarly activities were also expected/required.

bot

[oatmeal]

OP--Good luck with working on this. The important thing to bear in mind (and I am sure you will) is what is possible and expected at a SLAC. My experience is that (not top tier) SLACs with a teaching focus want an active research agenda rather than a set number of publications. Coming up with a certain number could cause problems.  In my experience on a 4-4 load, probably about three peer-reviewed journal articles would be more than enough, if it is coupled with several conferences (plus some other minor publications). Expectations more than that would be unfair and not in keeping with most mission statements at SLAC. Whatever your departments decides, however, you should probably clear it with the Dean and with the Tenure and Promotion Committee on campus. Of course all this various by discipline (what is your discipline?).

[hikerprof]

Oatmeal--Actually we are not at a SLAC. We are a social sciences department at a large public state university.

[charlesr]

I'm in a social sciences department in a medium-sized (5,000 students) state university.  Our teaching load is 4-4 and our dept. tenure criteria are 3 intellectual contributions, of which 2 should be peer-reviewed articles. I've been told informally that I should be fine with 3 articles.

[offthemarket]

In the sciences, at my 4/4 public uni, those teaching a full load are expected to have 2-3 pubs or funded federal grants by the time they come up, from work done at this institution.  I think 5 would be a bit high for us, just not enough hours in a day or days in a year.

Those who have reduced teaching loads experience higher expectations.

[larryc]

At my old 4/4 school the standard was--well, good teaching evals and not getting arrested. But when the VP's son the criminal justice professor got arrested, it turned out that you just couldn't get convicted. Seriously there was not research component to tenure, it was research/service.

At my current position where we teach seven courses a year the tenure standard is 3 peer-reviewed articles and 2-3 conference presentations.

[oatmeal]

Sorry hikerprof. Still I think my comments for a 4-4 state university seem fair. What is the standard where you are now and what is your discipline? That might help the discussion... I still think 5 peer-reviewed is a lot especially if you have large classes and lots of teaching. Larryc makes a good comment. At 3-3 loads the demands for publications are often 3-4 peer-reviewed articles or something similar but it is discipline specific and depends on the mission, the Dean, and the history of past decisions on tenure ad promotion... Again, sorry for not reading your other response more closely, I saw a response which talked about SLAC, so I assumed you were at something comparable.

[ls410]

I'm at a smaller state school and just had this conversation with my dean (I'm in social sciences but in an A&S college).  3-4 peer-reviewed articles/book chapters, grant applications (but they do not have to be sucessful), and conference attendance (no # stated but most faculty do not go to a national conference every year).  My dean also believes that enough high quality book reviews can equal an article.  She loves book reviews.

[mad_doctor]

When I was at a 4/4 they had a 5-pub "recommendation", but only two of them had to be journals, and they could be any kind of journal (even an in-house journal that for all practical purposes had a 100% acceptance rate for faculty), and they also counted conferences and other activities as pubs.  Even with that, only one of my colleagues and myself would have made tenure with those "recommendations".  The others couldn't even get 5 regional conferences with that workload.  Part of the problem, I think, is that these 4/4 schools typically have excessive service requirements on top of the teaching loads, such as mandatory attendance at student events, lots of committees, mandatory recruiting service, and many have 3 - 4 preps per term, etc. that make it almost impossible to pursue any kind of research.  Ironically, it is very difficult to maintain effective teaching standards at these "teaching" universities.

We really need to make a new distinction between teaching universities, since the usual research university/ teaching university distinction is a disservice to the many teaching universities that are serious about teaching and research, but only a little less research-oriented than the research universities.  For instance, we refer to universities that have a 3/3 load with 4 - 5 refereed journals required for tenure as "teaching universities". Maybe we should talk about "Teaching 1" and "Teaching 2" universities?  Come to think of it, since effective teaching suffers so greatly at universities that have a 4/4 load, 6 -8 preps per year, excessive service requirements, and nominal research requirements, it is really dishonest to include them in a category with genuine "teaching" universities.

[ls410]

We really need to make a new distinction between teaching universities, since the usual research university/ teaching university distinction is a disservice to the many teaching universities that are serious about teaching and research, but only a little less research-oriented than the research universities.  For instance, we refer to universities that have a 3/3 load with 4 - 5 refereed journals required for tenure as "teaching universities". Maybe we should talk about "Teaching 1" and "Teaching 2" universities?  Come to think of it, since effective teaching suffers so greatly at universities that have a 4/4 load, 6 -8 preps per year, excessive service requirements, and nominal research requirements, it is really dishonest to include them in a category with genuine "teaching" universities.

My university is not technically a 'teaching' school.  We offer PhDs (but not in my field) so are considered by Carnagie to be a 'doctoral research university'.  So the administrators have in their heads that faculty should be producing publications and winning grants on the same level as the state's flagship university.  Yet we don't get the same level of support (in terms of travel funds, start-up, RA/TA support) and we still have a 4-4 load.  So I think in some ways it's not how we refer to our institutions, it's how the deans and provosts and presidents do since they make the tenure decisions.  Until the expectations match reality, mad-doctor is right: teaching and research and service all suffer.

[john_proctor]

When I was at a 4/4 they had a 5-pub "recommendation", but only two of them had to be journals, and they could be any kind of journal (even an in-house journal that for all practical purposes had a 100% acceptance rate for faculty), and they also counted conferences and other activities as pubs.  Even with that, only one of my colleagues and myself would have made tenure with those "recommendations".  The others couldn't even get 5 regional conferences with that workload.  Part of the problem, I think, is that these 4/4 schools typically have excessive service requirements on top of the teaching loads, such as mandatory attendance at student events, lots of committees, mandatory recruiting service, and many have 3 - 4 preps per term, etc. that make it almost impossible to pursue any kind of research.  Ironically, it is very difficult to maintain effective teaching standards at these "teaching" universities.

We really need to make a new distinction between teaching universities, since the usual research university/ teaching university distinction is a disservice to the many teaching universities that are serious about teaching and research, but only a little less research-oriented than the research universities.  For instance, we refer to universities that have a 3/3 load with 4 - 5 refereed journals required for tenure as "teaching universities". Maybe we should talk about "Teaching 1" and "Teaching 2" universities?  Come to think of it, since effective teaching suffers so greatly at universities that have a 4/4 load, 6 -8 preps per year, excessive service requirements, and nominal research requirements, it is really dishonest to include them in a category with genuine "teaching" universities.

meeeeehh.

You have me in spirit.

But, I've taught a 4/4 before and, frankly, if you can't manage five regional conference papers in six years time, then I think you probably ought find another line of work, myself.

I'd wonder if you were doing the base level of reading required for class/lecture prep.

That is NOT a heavy publication requirement.  

I absolutely agree, however, that overloading teaching diminishes teaching quality, as well.  Schools that are serious about being "teaching focused" should ensure that faculty have adequate time for course-related research and contact with students out of the classroom.