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Job-Market Reporting Thread (2025-26)
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Is it always better to have more publications on the market?

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

Is it better to have more publications when going on the job-market, or fewer? I'm not from the fanciest of PhD programs, most of our graduates end up teaching at smaller regional colleges/universities. My question isn't whether it is best to have more/fewer publications in order to "publish into getting" a job at a Research Universities or a prestigious SLAC, but whether it is better to have more/fewer when applying in general.

I'm inferring a bit here, but I take it the OP's concern may be about whether one should maybe avoid "publishing too much" to be competitive for the kinds of jobs that people from their PhD program have tended to get (e.g., jobs at smaller regional colleges and universities). On that, I'm not sure. But I did some informal data collection a number of years ago which suggested that having more publications is a good predictor of job-market success, particularly for those kinds of jobs–and my own experience on the market matched that: the more publications I got, the more interviews I got at those kinds of schools. 

What do readers think? I imagine it would be helpful to hear both from job candidates and search committee members.

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6 responses to “Is it always better to have more publications on the market?”

  1. academic migrant

    working for a uni that has some research and supervisory component, and the advice I got during grad school (and the advice I now give): quality > quantity, though having more won’t hurt insofar as one doesn’t publish in predatory journals.
    I can’t say I fully understand to OP’s worry, but I think strategically publishing less for the sake of getting jobs sounds counterintuitive to me. Publishing more might give one more potential interviews and potentially more job options.
    Though I have no idea whether anyone strategically delays pubs for the sake of easier tenure review.

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  2. Hope to help

    Remember, you need not list every publication on your CV. Rather than “Publications”, consider “Select Publications”, and list as many as you want. If you 8 pubs but think more than 3-4 may hurt you at a teaching-focused school, list 3-4 that are most relevant or important. You might be asked about it, but you can discuss how you wanted to emphasize your teaching aspects on your CV.
    The concern the OP has is, in my experience at a teaching-focused school, real—candidates with plenty of pubs were sometimes discarded on grounds that they might not be happy at teaching a 4×4.This was usually combined with other considerations (e.g. lack of robust solo teaching exp.)

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  3. insider

    I think there is a sense in which you can publish TOO much. When one starts out, the key is to get published (ideally in as good a journal as possible). Once you get published once, you should aim higher. Publish in a higher ranked and more selective journal. If you merely try to get every paper you have ever written published, you may find yourself placing them in some low ranking journals. Why does this matter? I was sitting in on a department meeting early in my career, and they were discussing why one of their recent graduates did NOT get a job he was short listed for. Someone had some inside information: apparently the candidate was perceived as a BOTTOMFEEDER. He had published quite a bit, but much of it in 3rd tier journals – these are respectable journals … many of which you have heard of. But apparently they tarnished the candidate’s file.

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  4. Bill V.

    It is true that having a file that is too heavy on publication can be some risk when applying to teaching schools, because committee members might think you won’t be focused enough on teaching or you will leave soon. That can be balanced by having an excellent teaching record, too.
    It does depend on how long it has been since you graduated. I tend to think that while one grad school publication is more or less the minimum to be seriously considered anywhere (even many teaching schools), for a fresh grad there is not much advantage in having more after the third. Margins of diminishing returns and all that. But it you have been out of grad school for a while and are publishing one per year, that’s a nice rate.
    Something to consider is that one (almost never) gets hired on publications alone. The whole file matters. If one has a lot of publications but no teaching experience, that could be a hindrance. So when choosing how to expend one’s limited time, after 3 (?) publications are in hand, maybe focus on the other parts of the file. Get some meaningful service, good teaching experience in several subject areas, and so on.
    I’ve gotten pushback on this idea here before, but I would still suggest that for most applicants who already have 3-ish publications, rushing to get the 4th out for consideration before job season is not necessarily going to help, and you might be better off saving that next one for after you get hired. It is a big advantage to get a good publication very soon after starting a tenure-track job, in terms of how the department feels and the chances of getting tenure. That’s especially true since many new professors find they have little or no time for research in their first year adjusting to a new role, which means they don’t get that first pub in the new job for more than a year.

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  5. M

    It can definitely hurt your chances to publish too much, or in mostly top journals, at a lot of more teaching-heavy jobs… (I suspect this is true whether you are coming out of a top PhD program or not.) The reason is because it makes you look a certain way, and that way only really helps you at the better R1 or Leiterrific depts; you can look ‘too good’ or that you’re aiming so high that even if they hired you, you’d be looking to ‘move up’ to a more R1 job soon after. So it’s diminishing returns, and can even work against you, to publish more than 3-4 journal articles when you’re applying for jobs.
    (Agreed with insider that this can also hurt if your ‘too much’ publishing is in the less reputable journals.)

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  6. Kapto

    On balance I wouldn’t worry about publishing too much. Of course, I agree with the posters who note the risk — in my take, you might seem too research-oriented and “on the make” to look like someone who wants to go all in at a teaching only regional school. But that impression is easily remedied by strong teaching credentials (course you’ve taught, good evals, good innovative techniques, etc.). And here’s the thing: you need those materials anyway to get these jobs. Lacking them will sink you no matter how many pubs. So having too many, on balance, won’t adversely affect you, and it could help.

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