Plan your success and have confidence

Plan your success and have confidence

• Plan your success and have confidence

• regardless of your appointment, your research output will likely be the single largest determinant in the tenure decision
• set short- and long-term objectives (start with the end in mind)
• recognize everyone has to start somewhere
• develop a risk seeking attitude
• overcome perfectionist tendencies
• reviews are idiosyncratic – stick with it!

2) Work in large numbers (manage your pipeline)

• 2) Work in large numbers (manage your pipeline)

• typical paper takes 3-5 years to publish, whereas the typical tenure decision is made in 5-7 years
• start early, submit often
• publish your dissertation!
• keep a list of paper ideas
• leverage work with undergrad and grad students, but don’t count on it – you are responsible for your own success
• deans can count

3) Take a portfolio perspective

• 3) Take a portfolio perspective

• balance high-risk papers/outlets with low-risk papers/outlets
• balance the risk/return trade-off
• many departments expect you to have one or more papers that are “AJAE or higher”

4) Develop a thick skin

• 4) Develop a thick skin

• reviews are fair on average
• if a journal acceptance rate is 10-20% you can do the math
• turn rejected papers around quickly
• reviews are very idiosyncratic; don’t waste your time
• comments from reviewers on my papers
• “this paper reminds me of a large number of Jayson Lusk papers I have read. It seems to be an attempt to re-package some points elsewhere, and make them sound more fundamental and serious than they are”
• “this is a conceptual mess”
• “the motivation of the paper provides a loose and self-serving review of the literature”
• “are you selling soap, or doing science here?”
• “this paper is a mess of poor motivation and poor execution”
• “the paper . . . is severely hampered by its lack of a true economic question”
• “The number of misspelled author names both in the text and in the references is insulting and inexcusable. . . . these names sound like names of well-known marketing academics that none of my PhD students could possibly misspell.”
• The following two comments were received on the same paper
• “portions of the paper read very poorly”
• “I found the paper to be very well written and researched”

5) Do your homework

• 5) Do your homework

• know how to market your paper
• read and cite the relevant literature
• know how your paper “fits” into the literature
• you should be very careful about say things like “this is the first paper to . . .”
• what is your contribution?
• clearly identify your contribution
• make a compelling case for your paper
• be careful not to “oversell”
• use “good” papers as role models

Judiciously choose co-authors

• Judiciously choose co-authors

• people you like/respect
• individuals with different comparative advantages
• don’t let the 3rd or 4th author hold you up

7) Allocate and protect time for research

• 7) Allocate and protect time for research

• teaching/extension will dominate your time if you let it
• responding to emails will dominate your time if you let it
• should you spend more time on your research? (nights/weekends?)
• prioritize your research
• quickly complete revise and resubmits

8) Get and use feedback from others

• 8) Get and use feedback from others

• correspond with “stars” in the profession
• thoroughly and effectively respond to reviewers
• even “bad” reviewers usually have one or two useful comments;
• “good” reviewers have many useful comments
• ask others to read your papers before you submit to journals
• don’t expect high quality feedback from meetings presentations; use meetings to network

9) Realize publishing is a dynamic “game”

• 9) Realize publishing is a dynamic “game”

• the editor that rejects one paper is the same editor that might accept your next
• it is always disappointing to have a paper rejected – don’t take it out on the editor
• that said, you are the only one who will stand up for your academic contributions
• implement a policy of waiting a week until responding to editors/reviewers
• practice the “Golden Rule” in reviewing

10) Have fun!

• 10) Have fun!

• publish with a purpose
• some purposes are self-serving
• self gratification/ego
• Hilmer and Hilmer (AJAE, 2005) show for agricultural economics professors that each additional research article increases salary from 0.5% to 1%
• Golden et al. (RAE, 2006) shows that for each publication, an agricultural economics professor salary increases roughly $200/year
• Swidler and Goldreyer (JF, 1998) find that, depending on professorial rank, the present value of the first top finance journal article published is between $19,493 and $33,754
• other purposes are loftier