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Job-Market Reporting Thread (2025-26)
Job-Market Discussion Thread (2025-26)

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Prepping for next year’s job marker: polish dissertation or write other papers?

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

I'm currently writing a dissertation on a niche topic (in a popular AOS but the specific topic is underexplored). I am finding it a bit difficult to get work on the dissertation published (as I was helpfully warned about by my dissertation committee). I am on track to have 3 chapters done by the end of the semester.

I am going on the job market soon, and have two paths I could do down.

In general, I could spend less time polishing my dissertation and more time working on developing other papers that are more publishable. For example, I could try and write a fourth chapter on the same niche topic (and eventually try and get it published) or I could try and write a paper that is still in my AOS but less niche and more obviously suited for a generalist philosophy journal.

Any advice on which path might be better job-market wise?

I guess I don't think there are two paths here: one can do both simultaneously, and learning how to juggle multiple major projects is an important thing to learn how to do. All the same, if the OP feels like they have to choose one path or the other, the answer seems to me clear: publish. As the common saying goes, "A good dissertation is a done dissertation." Unless you're coming from a tippy-top ranked program, publishing may be the surest way to increase one's competitiveness on the market. Or so it seems to me. 

What does everyone else think?

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2 responses to “Prepping for next year’s job marker: polish dissertation or write other papers?”

  1. Current job marketer

    I don’t think it matters whether your research projects are part of your dissertation or not. In my experience on the job market (and this tracks what I’ve heard from others, and Marcus’ answer above) I was never asked about my dissertation specifically–only about my ongoing and future research projects (i.e. what I’m going to publish next, regardless of whether it’s coming from my dissertation). So it doesn’t matter, as long as you’ve got an eye toward publication.
    So, the question just seems to be whether it’s worth it for you to focus on a popular new topic, or the less-popular one that you’re already presumably more prepared to publish on. One question is just how much extra work it will be to write something on the new topic–do you already know the literature well enough to have an idea of what you’ll write, or are you starting from scratch? On the other hand, it can be good to have multiple strands of research–it will help you to make the case that you can teach a variety of courses, collaborate with faculty on different projects, etc.

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  2. Bill V.

    I think Marcus is right: I was going to post an equivalent of the “why not both” meme. The nine months between now and next job season is plenty of time to finish the dissertation and get one or two things out for publication. (One or two pages per day and you’ll be finished the dissertation in a couple of months.) You should also try to get some clarity from your committee about whether the lack of success in publication so far is really about the topic, or about the way those papers were written. With a hyper-specialized topic, you are probably better off trying to place those papers at specialist rather than generalist journals.

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