After all the #pubgate talk I think we all need to realize that # of pubs isn’t the heart of the problem. There are many more aspects to it. I am proud of students who can publish a high number of pubs as well as their mentors! @AcademicChatter #CBTWorks #mondaythoughts

Other thoughts: Sometimes # of pubs will have to do with several factors (e.g., what is going on in lab, resources, etc.). I will say that for people who have lower number of pubs, there are lots of examples of success out there. 2/10

My research lab did not have a lot of available data and I was left to collect quite a bit of data on my own (plus a switch from one lab to another after a toxic environment 2nd year in grad school). Navigating this was tough and rewarding. 5/10

I was fortunate to have strong collaborations that I was able to take advantage of in postdoc years that allowed me to publish significantly more and I was transitioned to faculty at the University of Utah after showing this strong potential (and a successful job talk). 7/10

Having been on search committees (psychology & psychiatry depts), it is rare for number of pubs to be the deciding factor and we had positive reactions to strong pub #s and also still reviewed all applications regardless of # of pubs. We cared about research lines and fit. 3/10

All that to say is there really is not a reason to bash or respond negatively to student success. I’ll also share my own story – I had 2 publications coming out of grad school (1 poster coming into grad school). 4/10

Although the number of pubs coming out of grad school was low for research focused postdocs, my area of research and ideas pushed me forward and I had several strong offers to work and develop my research interest. 6/10

I left UofU to go to @ucf, again not with necessarily as many pubs as others but having a great fit for the advertised job. I know several faculty members who had a very strong background and a lot of publications who had wonderful career paths too. 8/10

I see no reason why we should take away from their accomplishments or add more anxiety to graduate students who are already under a lot of pressure. If people want to make changes to the field, work on systematically changing it. 9/10

Let’s try to support each other and be happy for accomplishments of others. Civil and supportive discourse is encouraged with any field and science and I look forward to seeing the great talent we have coming in the future! 10/10