Academics - is this normal?

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

At least once a term, at Research Committee in our department, we all have to go round the room and say what papers we've submitted/had accepted/rejected, what grants we've applied for and whether they were successful etc.

I just hate it - it feels like public humiliation and I am really struggling with confidence issues after being away from work having children and it really doesn't help.

Does anyone else do this in their department?

Hello,
can't sleep - it's all about citation rate as well though isn't it? I mean, you might be 'saving up' for one big paper in which case you might not have much to talk about all the time, or be doing lots of little papers - thereby giving yourself a long list but of slightly lesser impact.

Kathy - that's a good question and one which hadn't occurred to me!

Good point about having something you can count on under your belt Kathy.

Tamum - true that we don't know what form the next RAE will take. But the emphasis so far on metrics does set the terms for the argument about how it should shape up, in a way that suggests to me that the evaluation of what 'counts' as good research will continue to get narrower.

I don't endorse this, far from it - but I do think that it's worth being reasonably savvy about how it might affect one's research career. Men are often better at thinking strategically about their research and the shape of their careers than women, IME.