Goal number one… publish a flurry of first-author papers in prestigious journals (Image: Cargo/Getty Images)

Page counts. Proofreading. Discussion sections. As a postdoc, when your mind is immersed in the science, writing it up can seem like an annoying distraction. But whether the plan is to remain in academia or make the jump into industry, publishing papers is the only way to get there. Publications prove to potential employers that you are capable of carrying out original, cutting-edge work – and of working hard.

But publishing isn’t simply a case of doing all the research, writing it up and then sending it out to a few journals for review. To be successful, you need an overarching strategy that starts when your postdoc does. Here is a whistlestop tour of how to make your postdoc publishing career a success.

When should I start writing up my research?

Early – perhaps even before you go to the bench or the accelerator. It may sound premature, but writing up the rationale and methods behind your work will help you maximize efficiency, anticipate problems and focus on the big picture. “Good colleagues of mine can already envision what the paper’s going to look like before they’ve done the experiments,” says Keith Micoli, postdoctoral program director at the NYU School of Medicine. He suggests that new postdocs outline a manuscript after a few months of generating data, and then plan more experiments based on that. Use any downtime between experiments to start writing up the methods section and the introduction, and start building a reference section.


Justine Melo, a seventh-year molecular biology postdoc at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, says she wishes she had adopted the write-as-you-go technique earlier. “It’s a real bummer to write the paper, identify the holes in the process, and then have to go back to the bench for who knows how long to plug them before you can submit,” she says. “Doing experiments while writing allows you to get the clarity of hindsight mid-process.” If you are overcome by inertia, Melo suggests forming a writing group with colleagues.

How early in my postdoc should I publish?

Again, early. “It’s really important to publish, not to put it off,” says Julia S. Austin, who teaches postdocs research writing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Map out where you’re going and when you need to be publishing, and put yourself on that schedule.” You don’t want to let a year or two go by with no progress.

How much of my research should I publish at once?

Senior Nature editor Michael White advises a two-pronged approach: keep top journals in mind for possible home-run results while simultaneously parsing off parts of your research for smaller journals. The latter “turns the crank on your career by showing a consistent record of publication,” he says.

Melo chose a riskier strategy. She bet on two all-or-nothing projects that were ultimately unfruitful before succeeding with the third. However, after having a first-author paper in Cell last month (the only other author was her advisor), she feels optimistic going into the job market, even though her only previous postdoc publication was a fourth-author paper two years ago.

“I thought I’d get a better story if I waited and collected more data,” she says. “The risk of doing that is that someone could scoop you.”

How many research papers am I expected to publish?

That depends on what you are studying. “In some biomedical fields, having a paper per year might be a bad thing because it may mean that the postdoc isn’t working on a substantive project,” says John Alvaro, director of Yale University’s postdoc program. In astronomy, says Rodger Thompson, a professor at the University of Arizona, postdocs generally have many projects going on at once, so they can churn out between five and 10 papers a year. To make sure you keep up, ask your principal investigator how often they expect you to submit papers when you start a new position.

Do I need to be the first author for the paper to count?

Yes, if you are aiming for academic positions in competitive fields. “Postdocs really have to have some outstanding publications, usually at least one first-author paper in one of the top-tier journals, to even pass the first round” of interviews for a faculty job, says Stephen Miller, an immunologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, who has supervised dozens of postdocs. He encourages his mentees to add review articles and commentaries to their CVs. Those demonstrate a good work ethic and grasp of their field’s development – and, he says, “it also doesn’t hurt to have the extra first-author publications”.

Is my career over if I don’t publish in Cell, Science or Nature?

Papers in top journals open doors, but Miller says an alternative to having one first-author, top-tier paper is to do so several times in middle-tier journals. Given the eight per cent and seven per cent acceptance rates at Science and Nature, Alvaro says: “The odds are stacked against you. I don’t think you should feel your postdoc career was a failure if you did not get into one of those journals.”

In geoscience, says White, fewer papers are published in the higher-profile journals, so many scientists build fine careers from good subject-specific journals alone. MIT robotics researcher Matt Walter says his field measures postdocs by more than just their journal publications. “In robotics, publications at prestigious conferences are integral to getting our ideas out there and helping to establish credibility,” he says.

Will good science trump so-so prose?

“We definitely prefer good writing,” says White. Bear in mind that editors at general journals like Science and Nature may not be experts in the field covered by the paper, so sloppy writing will make it even harder to decipher.

However, White says he does sometimes send poorly written papers out for review. “It’s somewhat of a fine line between wasting the referee’s time and seeing if there’s actually a good idea in the paper,” he says.

Anxious writers do have options, though, such as taking research-writing classes or working with professional editors to help them develop their articles. Austin suggests carefully choosing a mentor who can offer guidance and is willing to proofread drafts in addition to your principal investigator, as some faculty will be better than others at guiding postdocs through the process.

Another way is to study those who have gone before. “Looking at other people’s work,” says Miller, “is really the way you learn how to do this stuff.”

What if I can’t get my research published?

Heed the reviewers, spiff up the prose and try your luck with lesser venues. It’s not unusual for people to start slowly at first. After all, it takes a while to settle into a new postdoc position, says Micoli. However, he adds that “the competition for faculty jobs is so intense that if you don’t have a solid CV by year four, you are unlikely to be able to overcome that deficit and time becomes your enemy”.

If you are not submitting or publishing as much as your peers as the years pass, consider rethinking your goals. As Alvaro points out: “There are some very rewarding jobs out there regardless of one’s publication record.”

This is what Devin Parry discovered when he finished a five-year molecular biology postdoc at Massachusetts General Hospital. He had one first-author paper in Current Biology to his name and the distinct feeling that he did not want to run his own lab. He is now enjoying life as a high school biology teacher in Seattle.

When he sees former colleagues, any nostalgia he may feel is forgotten when the conversation turns to funding. “The level of stress they have in their lives is very different from the level of stress in my life,” says Parry. “A lot of it depends on personality and what’s going to make you happy. Teaching high school is a great fit.”