Academia is entirely driven by one’s numbers. To get to grad school you need good grades. Once in grad school, you need to keep good grades and publish papers in high ranked journals. It is unfortunate because there are people that are more intelligent than many people I have met in grad school but have worse grades. Our entire society is built on conforming to one standard when we all learn in different ways. I like the idea of the new academic publication tracking system. It provides more information than the h-index and provides a larger story to the individual researcher. Thanks for your post.
Author: Deb McGlynn
Comment on Competitive Academia and Perverse Incentives by Deb McGlynn
This is entirely true and unfortunately the norm in academia. I have read a number of articles that have been published in top-tier journals that have fallen short of other papers in the same journal. It is amazing to me that such a bad paper could be published in such a great journal. Then again, after being in academia for a few years I started to learn that the person who published the sub-par article is well renowned in his field of study. This makes the person who is new in academia and trying to publish a much better piece of literature frustrated with the system. How does one get to have that status if they are never given a chance and are constantly overshadowed by better researchers with poor research findings?
Comment on Competitiveness Is Not Your Excuse by Deb McGlynn
I commend you for staying on the track and having the determination to use your Ph.D. for academia. I decided when I applied for Ph.D. programs that that life wasn’t for me. It is never easy because even once you get to the point of being a professor the competition never stops. The next 30-40 years will consist of applying to grants and bringing students and paying those students. It’s a rough life and it’s harder now than it was 30 years ago. The competition is ever more fierce. However, once you have that position, it is very rewarding to publish the work that is the most important to you and to see your students succeed.
