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Do publications before a job count for tenure?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Do the papers that one publishes prior to securing a TT job at a particular institution count towards meeting the research expectations for tenure at that institution? For instance, say someone has published 5 articles but hasn't yet secured a TT position. Let's say this person get's a TT position at institution X. Say that the tenure standards at institution X are such that faculty need to publish 6 or 7 articles. Would this person need to publish another 6 or 7 articles, or would their existing publications count? Perhaps this varies by institution, but I'm curious about how widely this varies, and what things look like for different kinds of jobs. Thanks!

My sense is that a lot of institutions only count publications toward tenure and promotion that one has achieved after starting a TT job at the institution. But maybe I'm wrong? So it would be good to hear from readers.

Do publications before starting a TT job at your institution count for tenure and promotion there, or not? When answering, please say what kind of college or university you are at!

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14 responses to “Do publications before a job count for tenure?”

  1. Keep plugging away!

    This is something that 1) varies significantly and 2) is a common part of hiring discussions. In my own (limited) experience, I have had departments tell me that tenure is holistic (whatever that means), that my prior publications count but that they’d like one more, and that only new publications count. There are lots of options out there!

    Reply
  2. Tenured now

    Agreed that this varies widely – and lots of places care about both the whole package and your general trajectory. So if you come in with 5, publish 1, and go up for tenure after 5-6 years, they likely won’t like it.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    My department counts things before starting the job. However, we don’t have any clear publishing expectations so it’s hard to say what that means in practice. I agree with the above poster that coming in with 5 and then publishing nothing else would not be sufficient even if the number required were 5.

    Reply
  4. The Real SLAC Prof

    Yes, previously published research counts toward tenure at my SLAC.
    If the person coming in has been out for awhile and is asking for a shortened clock, they should also ask the administration to provide assurance, in writing, that previously published material will count toward tenure before accepting the offer.
    Unlike asking for written documentation of the precise expectations for tenure, which is not and would not be provided at my institution, asking for this to be specified in the contract is standard.

    Reply
  5. yo

    Yes, at my public college, previously published research counts although it is weighted less heavily.

    Reply
  6. tenured

    It depends on the institution, but generally you should expect only those papers that you publish once your job starts to count towards tenure. Where I used to work, we had quite a lower tenure requirement, but the papers had to be published since joining the department. The basic idea is that we want an active research, not one who has published a bit and has now stopped.

    Reply
  7. Trevor Hedberg

    For the purposes of promotion in my current post, I am required to submit a curated CV that, with a few exceptions, only covers the things I have done since starting the job. I echo the notion expressed above that applicants should generally assume that only the things that happen after their appointment starts will matter for tenure and promotion.

    Reply
  8. Service Credit

    At my public university, there is the option of requesting “service credit” during hiring negotiations. If approved, this includes toward tenure your research from either one or two years before the hire date, and shortens your tenure clock (again, by either one or two years). If approved, this becomes an explicit part of your offer letter/contract with the university.

    Reply
  9. Anonymous

    I work at an R2 and only the material published after starting counts towards tenure.

    Reply
  10. Michael Kates

    I had this exact problem at my current institution. None of my pre-TT publications counted toward tenure (so I had to start all over from square one). But, bizarrely, they did count for promotion to Associate Professor (which is treated as a separate decision). I feel like this varies greatly by institution, so it would be best to know the policy beforehand. Unfortunately, I did not.

    Reply
  11. whatever

    At my teaching heavy mid-sized regional, I got one previously published article to count towards my (rather easy) tenure research requirements.

    Reply
  12. historygrrrl

    It depends.
    One place I worked looked at impact to the field. So, prior publications counted – if they made some impact, continued to get cited, and so on. This place did not use a quantitative measure (such as you need X number of publications for tenure), so there’s that.
    Another place I worked was very strict about not counting prior publications. In fact, a publication of mine that was accepted to a journal one week before the contract start date (and thus was published with their affiliation) did not count. If I had delayed sending my revision to the editor for just 7 days, it would have counted.
    So, if this is a concern, please talk to your chair. If they say that any prior publications count, get that in writing – you do not want to get screwed over by bureaucratic nonsense.

    Reply
  13. Junior

    Here’s another question: what is the date that counts as “published” here? Is it the traditional, added to an issue date? Or is it when it is published online (online first or whatever the publisher calls it)? Or when it is accepted? My numbers look different for all these.

    Reply
  14. re junior

    If your employer cares about this stuff, look to them for their definition of “published”.

    Reply

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