Early Career Academics Research Articles

Leaving the Ivory Tower: Vocational Application Orientation of Early Career Academics

This study reports on the development and validation of a new construct of application orientation (AO), which we defined as a vocational orientation concerning the interest for certain principles, values, and activities that are common for university graduates working in applied (i.e., industrial) fields. Using a multi-study program with different samples, the new construct was conceptualized (Study 1) and validated (Studies 2–4). In a qualitative content analysis with N = 102 professionals (all of them having an academic degree mostly in the STEM disciplines), four central facets of applied (i.e., industrial) work were identified (process orientation, customer focus, product focus, and economic focus). In a study with N = 200 university students and professionals with mixed disciplinary backgrounds (i.e., STEM but also non-STEM fields), the AO facets correlated with the RIASEC dimensions (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional; Holland, 1997) mostly as expected, and the AO facet product focus was predictive of the preference for applied work settings, supporting convergent validity assumptions. Discriminant validity of the AO facets was largely supported, examining average variance extracted by the AO factors compared to the RIASEC factors. In a known-groups validation study, AO was higher in N = 108 professionals from industry compared with N = 40 scientists (all from STEM fields) working at a university. In a sample of N = 128 early career scientists from the STEM fields, the AO facet product focus predicted applied work behavior in an assessment center.

Redefining the role of urban studies Early Career Academics in the post-COVID-19 university

We are an international collective of Early Career Academics (ECAs) who met throughout 2020 to explore the implications of COVID-19 on precarious academics. With this intervention, our aims are to voice commonly shared experiences and concerns and to reflect on the extent to which the pandemic offers opportunities to redefine Higher Education and research institutions, in a context of ongoing precarity and funding cuts. Specifically, we explore avenues to build solidarity across institutions and geographies, to ensure that the conduct of urban research, and support offered to ECAs, allows for more inclusivity, diversity, security and equitability.

Liberating Our Writing: Critical Narratives and Systemic Changes in Education and the Social Sciences

We outline our evolution as Latina, Asian, and White women sociologists using a social justice lens while studying transitions to college among youth of color. During our graduate training and early academic careers, we felt pushed to center “mainstream” theories, which often failed to account for the power struggles and intersectional oppression our reading and empirical investigations uncovered. Guidance from mentors, peer reviewers, and senior scholars in our fields often left us feeling our ideas were invalid and marginalized. We detail our shared experiences in developing our critical lenses, and we present practical advice for early-career scholars navigating academic pressures while seeking to advance their academic writing for social justice. Our narratives represent a call to action for academics to center critical approaches that push our students and ourselves to speak truth to power.

A Letter from the Museum Reviews Editor

A Letter from the Museum Reviews Editor

A Collaborative Approach to Manuscript Revisions and Responses to Reviewer Comments

While there are benefits to collaborative research, navigating group dynamics can also bring challenges, particularly for doctoral students and early career academics who are new to the research process. These dynamics extend beyond initial manuscript submission and include processes associated with interpreting reviewer comments, deciding upon and making revisions, and developing clear author response documents through the revision process. Herein, the authors overview one systematic and replicable approach to managing revisions. Steps include (a) read, set aside, and return to the reviewer comments; (b) document initial reactions to comments; (c) collectively review the comments and decide upon direction; (d) coordinate revisions to the manuscript; (e) craft final response statements; and (f) prepare a resubmission cover letter to the editor. Recommendations will be provided for approaching the revision, including how to revise the manuscript to highlight edits, and suggestions for tone and approach, particularly when disagreeing with a reviewer.

A Primer for Teaching Women, Gender & Sexuality in World History: Ten Design Principles

A Primer for Teaching Women, Gender & Sexuality in World History: Ten Design Principles

Women—particularly underrepresented minority women—and early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance.

Women—particularly underrepresented minority women—and early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance.

Empowering early career academics to overcome low confidence

ABSTRACT How can academic developers support Early Career Academics (ECAs) to increase in confidence as they step into their new responsibilities? Previous work has demonstrated the negative impacts of ECAs’ low self-efficacy, focusing recommendations on the need for systemic changes. Going further than previous academic development work to apply social cognitive theories of personality, we explore how ECAs can be equipped to understand, reflect on and increase their own confidence. We point to evidence-based approaches and recommend practical steps that can be taken to implement this approach in increasing the confidence of ECAs.

Assessing the Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention among Early-Career Academics in Tertiary Education in Malaysia

Persistent improvements in organizational performance hinge on the organizations' ability to not only attract talented staff but also in retaining them. Employees are the most valuable assets for any firm today in sustaining the competitive advantages in this highly globalized business environment (Team, 2019). Turnover of Early Career Academics (ECAs) demonstrates the draining of the higher educational organizations' human capital, in terms of knowledge and expertise (Gibbons, 2020). Therefore, a high turnover rate is an indication of the companies’ inability to sustain the growth of human capital. ECAs are critical and essential components of every individual's higher education at the institution. When the staff and faculty members are exposed to the opportunity to leave their jobs, the educational institution is one of the entities that are under threat (Feng & Angeline, 2010). Anca-Ioana (2013) stated that academicians are the university’s most valuable asset in developing highly skilled and holistic graduates who are pleased and eventually remain longer with the organization. Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Turnover Intention, Early Career Academics, Tertiary Education.

Gender and early career faculty disparities in hematology and medical oncology board review lectures series.

11060 Background: Studies show that women and early career faculty members have less access to career development opportunities and leadership positions. These disparities slow the process of change and may affect leadership roles, promotions, and career advancements in academic medicine. Here, we provide the first analysis of speakers’ gender and early faculty disparities in hematology and medical oncology board review series. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of speakers at all major hematology and/or oncology board review series meetings, which were held in the United States between January 2017 and December 2021. Six major board review series were involved: Baylor/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Brigham and Dana-Farber, George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and the American Society of Hematology. Details of the lectures were acquired via accessing brochures available on the institutions’ official websites. Data on board certification and maintenance of certificate (MOC) were obtained from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) website. We extracted the number of publications from the PubMed website (MEDLINE). Results: Our analysis included 1224 board review lectures presented by 386 speakers. Of which, 315 (81.6%) were American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) certified, and MOC was active in 56.1% of speakers. Females accounted for 37.7% of all speakers, with a representation of less than 50% in 5 out of 6 board review series. The least proportion of female participation was among lectures discussing malignant hematology topics (24.8%), followed by solid tumors (38.9%), and benign hematology topics (44.1%). Faculty members with more than 15 years of experience since initial certification presented more than half of the lectures. The median time from initial hematology or medical oncology certification to lecture presentation was 12.5 years and 14 years, respectively, which varied significantly among different series (p < 0.001). Speakers’ median number of publications was 84. We also investigated how frequently the same speaker gave lectures. Thirteen male speakers conducted more than or equal to 10 lectures across all board review series, compared to only two female speakers who did the same. An upward trend of improvement in females participation was found at all board review conference meetings across the years. Conclusions: Our data suggest that women and early career faculty members are underrepresented in hematology and oncology board review series. Therefore, efforts should be made to ensure equal participation of them in such important activities needed to advance academic careers.

The European Federation of Psychology Students’ Associations Junior Researcher Programme: A Reflection from two Research Project Supervisors

Two early career academics share their experiences as project supervisors on the European Federation of Psychology Students’ Associations Junior Researcher Programme. They reflect on the benefits and challenges of supervising on the programme during their doctoral studies, discuss what they gained most from participation, and provide advice for those who may be interested in joining the programme in the future. Overall, although the authors’ experiences differed, they both felt that the programme was a worthwhile experience which supported their professional development. It is hoped that this reflective piece acts as a useful resource for potential Junior Research Programme applicants.

The Changing Profile of Tenure-Track Faculty in Archaeology

ABSTRACTThe goal for many PhD students in archaeology is tenure-track employment. Students primarily receive their training by tenure-track or tenured professors, and they are often tacitly expected—or explicitly encouraged—to follow in the footsteps of their advisor. However, the career trajectories that current and recent PhD students follow may hold little resemblance to the ones experienced by their advisors. To understand these different paths and to provide information for current PhD students considering pursuing a career in academia, we surveyed 438 archaeologists holding tenured or tenure-track positions in the United States. The survey, recorded in 2019, posed a variety of questions regarding the personal experiences of individual professors. The results are binned by the decade in which the respondent graduated. Evident patterns are discussed in terms of change over time. The resulting portraits of academic pathways through the past five decades indicate that although broad commonalities exist in the qualifications of early career academics, there is no singular pathway to obtaining tenure-track employment. We highlight the commonalities revealed in our survey to provide a set of general qualifications that might provide a baseline set of skills and experiences for an archaeologist seeking a tenure-track job in the United States.

The Growth of Academic Identity in the Early Career Stage during the Transition in Chinese Higher Education

This doctoral study explores how do early career academics experience their sense of belonging to the academic profession and how do they experience the teaching-research nexus during the transition of their institution from a teaching- to a research-led environment with an ethnography-informed phenomenology approach. Moreover, it examines the complexity of the transition and the role that ECAs play in the university repositioning. This study seeks to place the investigation in a broader frame of social and cultural analysis in order to go deep into the everyday experiences of the ECAs around issues of their sense of identity, as well as their ways of connecting and bringing about changes in their work communities during a changing environment. It will shed light on scholarly debates on the growth of academic identity in the early career stage and faculty development in China.

A multimodal framework for supporting academic writers' perspectives, practice and performance

ABSTRACT Supporting writing remains an important dimension to the work of academic developers particularly for early career academics and doctoral candidates. A small qualitative case study was undertaken on an academic writing module to explore participants’ needs and evaluate a new multimodal writing framework which sought to enhance publication opportunities while supporting the development of writing practice. The framework introduced the modes of reading, writing and reviewing as distinctive dimensions of the writing process and introduced practical activities to build participants’ confidence and skills working in each mode. It also prompted participants to acknowledge, adopt and shift between the perspectives of reader, writer and reviewer to develop their writing. The framework is proposed as an effective way of supporting the writing of early career academics and doctoral students. Findings suggest that participants considered the framework helpful to understand and adopt modes to enhance their writing performance and improve their practice and confidence.

Intramural Grant Program to Promote Research Activity Among Early-Career Faculty Members.

Early grant support for junior faculty members appears to positively influence their career trajectory. The authors sought to determine whether provision of grant support that enables early-career faculty members to conduct clinical, basic science, or educational research improves their academic success and enhances retention. The authors compared career development and retention among 30 Cohn Fellowship recipients and 31 nonrecipients who participated in the same mentoring program. An award of $20,000 to the fellowship recipients ensured protected time for research for 1 year. Academic productivity of both groups was monitored for 6 years. The authors found statistically significant differences between the 2 groups regarding research funding and scholarly productivity. The Cohn Fellowship recipients received a total of $14.7 million in external funding vs $3.7 million for nonrecipients, reflecting mean funding of $588,116 and $196,658 per person, respectively ( P < .01). Recipients published a total of 174 peer-reviewed articles vs 26 for nonrecipients, reflecting a mean of 7 and 1 per person, respectively ( P < .01). Recipients gave a total of 268 presentations vs 25 for nonrecipients, with a mean of 11 and 1 per person, respectively ( P < .01). Furthermore, 8 of the 25 recipients who stayed at Rush University (32%) were promoted to associate professor compared with 2 of the 19 (11%) nonrecipients ( P = .15). A majority of the Cohn Fellows (25; 83%) stayed at Rush University during the study compared with 61% of nonrecipients ( P = .06). These findings suggest that even small amounts of research support received early in a career can benefit the faculty and the university as a whole. We plan to continue gathering data to increase sample size and analyze outcomes for specific variables (e.g., time, rank, gender, promotion, retention).

Pressured to publish: stories of inexperienced researchers

PurposeImplementation of research evaluation policies based on neoliberal orientations of performativity has transformed higher education institutions globally, reshaping academic work and the academic profession. Most lately, the mantra of “publish or no degree” has become the norm in many contexts. There has been little empirical research into the unintended consequences of this neoliberal academic performativity for inexperienced researchers. This article focuses on the role institutional research evaluation policies play on doctoral students and early-career doctoral graduates’ publication practices and on their decision to sometimes publish in journals with ethically “questionable” publishing standards in particular through the concept of figured worlds.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in a higher education setting employing a variety of research incentive schemes to boost research productivity where “publish or no degree” policy is the norm. It employs qualitative approach and involves in-depth interviews with nine doctoral students and seven early career academics who have been working part-time or full-time for five years following PhD completion.FindingsFindings demonstrate publishing in journals with ethically “questionable” publishing standards is not always simply the result of naivety or inexperience. Some authors choose these journals in order to retain a sense of self-efficacy in the face of rejection by more highly ranked journals. Under institutional pressure to publish, they are socialized into this “shadow academia” through (existing) academic networks, conferences and journal special issues.Originality/valueIt is often assumed that scholars are trapped into “questionable” journals through the use of unsolicited emails. This paper challenges this assumption by demonstrating the crucial role research evaluation policies based on neoliberal orientations of performativity and contextual dynamics play on the publication practices of doctoral students and early-career doctoral graduates on their decision to submit to journals with “questionable” publication practices. It introduces the concept of unethical publication brokering, an informal network of ties promising fast and easy publication in outlets that “count”.

AcWriMo @Maynooth University Library: a guide to running an academic writing programme

In 2020 and 2021, Maynooth University (MU) Library ran an academic writing programme for library staff, loosely based on the international Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo) model. This model originated in the U.S. with the aim of encouraging and supporting writing among early career academics and researchers. Individuals or teams set November as a time to advance their writing substantially through establishing specific writing goals and recording both time spent writing and output. The MU Library version of AcWriMo was offered in November 2020 (AcWriMo1) and February 2021 (AcWriMo2). The goal for AcWriMo1 (November 2020) was to write a blog post of between 800 and 1,000 words. The goal for AcWriMo2 (February 2021) was similar – to complete a piece of writing of between 1,000 and 1,500 words for either a blog post or a professional journal. No prior experience of academic writing was necessary, and the programme was offered to library staff across all grades. Following a brief review of the literature relating to academic writing groups, this article provides a step-by-step description of the content of the writing programme, which could be adapted and developed by other academic writing groups. It then discusses the outputs from the group, their evaluation of the process and the key emerging issues.

Embedded Social Science and the British Government COVID-19 Response

The complex and evolving nature of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic poses significant challenges to national and international emergency preparedness and response. Governments must navigate streams of emerging data in real time, synthesising knowledge from diverse sources to inform policy. The UK government drew on experiences from earlier pandemics to bridge perceived gaps between social science research and policy through the secondment of early-career academics as embedded scientists. In this article, we present comparative ethnographic data describing embedded social scientists’ contributions to UK COVID-19 preparedness and response. We find that the liminal position, loose identities, and high degree of autonomy of embedded scientists allowed these individuals to navigate multiple networks to strengthen and legitimise the role of social science within policy debates.

A TALE OF TWO HATS: TRANSFORMING FROM THE RESEARCHED TO THE RESEARCHER

In this collaborative essay, three PhD students working in disciplines across the social sciences share their personal reflections on transforming from ‘researched’ to ‘researcher’, with reference to ‘insider’ perspectives. This position departs from traditional post-positivist assumptions of researchers as unbiased and detached from their work, and instead embraces the inherent impact their lived experiences will have. Decades of scholarship within the social sciences have highlighted the advantages afforded by insider positionality, particularly in terms of knowledge production and participant recruitment. Such a position challenges and even transforms the research relationship; still, despite the potentiality it holds, there are many challenges faced by insider researchers, and personal reflections on how this position is navigated are few and far between, particularly from a student perspective. In this essay, we share candid accounts of our experiences in this unique position and reflect on how we have navigated the challenges that have occurred. We conclude by highlighting commonalities between our experiences and identify three key messages we wish for other early-career academics in similar positions to hear.

A Primer for Success as an Early Career Academic Plastic Surgeon.

Background:The early career academic plastic surgeon strives to be an expert surgeon, an innovative researcher, and an impactful educator. Navigating these challenges is difficult in a healthcare landscape with diminishing public research funding, increasing demand from institutions for clinical productivity, and decreased value of surgical education. To help the junior academic plastic surgeon, this article discusses the fundamental aspects of developing an early academic plastic surgery practice, rooted in clinical care, research, and education.Methods:Using published literature, expert opinion, and faculty interviews, the authors prepared this primer for education and guidance of plastic surgery residents considering a career in academic plastic surgery and early career academic plastic surgeons.Results:This primer highlights elements important to succeeding as a junior academic plastic surgeon including defining goals and priorities, institutional and financial support, mentorship, education of students and residents, developing a practice niche, promotion and tenure, and social support and burnout.Conclusion:The early career academic plastic surgeon can create an environment for academic success with appropriate institutional support, mentorship, personal, and social support, to progress toward promotion while minimizing burnout and professional exhaustion.