Early career researchers & bibliometrics Katie Evans, Research Analytics Librarian, University of Bath Ray Kent, Director of Research Administration, Royal Veterinary College, University of London

“a Vast pool of global talent” ECRs are motivated by: Excitement about work, passion for field Intellectually stimulating work Contributing to new knowledge Advancing society, good for humanity Independent, flexible, diverse, creative work The Global State of Young Scientists’ 2010 https://globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/GYA_GloSYS-report_webversion.pdf

competitive Three-quarters of doctoral researchers expect to pursue an academic career … but only 3%-4% of PhD students in UK become permanent members of university staff Nature, Oct 2017 doi.org/10.1038/550429a Career paths of science PhDs, https://royalsociety.org/topics- policy/publications/2010/scientific-century/

Competitive in the humanities too Increasing number of humanities doctorates awarded, but decreasing number of academic jobs available. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/28/more-humanities-phds-are-awarded-job-openings-are-disappearing Data from American Academy of Arts & Science

insecure In the UK, UCU report: 68% of HE research staff on fixed-term contracts Fixed-term contracts are the predominant form of employment for early- to mid-career staff 46% of universities use zero-hours contracts for teaching https://www.ucu.org.uk/stampout CC-BY Ed Garcia https://flic.kr/p/4GW2c2

Mental Health & Stress “more than half of PhD students experience symptoms of psychological distress and one in three is at risk of having or developing a psychiatric disorder” Universities urged to tackle PhD mental health crisis, THE 13 April 2017 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/universities-urged-tackle-phd-mental-health-crisis https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/half-uk-academics-suffer-stress-linked-mental-health-problems

pressure to publish ECR’s view of top criteria for career advancement: Number of publications Reputations of journals Grants & external funding Number of citations Awards won The Global State of Young Scientists’ 2010 https://globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/GYA_GloSYS-report_webversion.pdf

Looking for support & training

1-2-4-all 1 2 4 All Gather your thoughts 2 min Discuss in pairs 3 min Discuss in fours 5 min All Feedback to room 8 min

Scenario 1: job application Dr X is applying for a job as a lecturer and asks: How will my publishing track be assessed? Colleagues have given them lots of advice! “Winning grants in more important than publishing” “They just look at the impact factor” “You need 4 REF-able papers” “You need a monograph” “Quality, not quantity!”

Scenario 2: where to publish? Dr Y has the opportunity to be part of founding an exciting new open access journal in their field. They ask: shall I devote my energy to that or to publishing in established journals?

Scenario 3: confidence for the next step Dr Z’s Head of Department has suggested they apply for a fellowship. But Dr Z doesn’t think they’re good enough. Can metrics help Dr Z assess if they’re ready? Can metrics help give Dr Z the confidence to take the next step? What else may be required, beyond metrics?

What are you taking away from this workshop? K.T.Evans@bath.ac.uk (Katie) rkent@rvc.ac.uk (Ray)