I Turned 139 Citations Into 1,847 in 5 Years

Why most tenure-track faculty stay invisible and how my method changed everything

Most early-career academics are doing publications wrong. I discovered this on my journey from 139 to 1,847 citations per year in just 5 years. That’s a transformation that ultimately helped me get an Associate Professor position at a top university.

Here’s the publication strategy 95% of tenure-track faculty never learn:

Not all publications are created equal.

Too many academics waste their time churning out paper after paper in low-tier venues. This leads to academic obscurity, when the real career-changing impact comes from publishing just a few papers in top-tier venues. Most graduate programs just don’t teach this stuff. Somebody might waffle on about metrics and quantity. Others might throw in a well-meaning “publish or perish” comment. But this is a lesson I make sure all my students understand from day one.

Instead of submitting our work randomly, we build a strategic plan.

First, take a good look at all the publishing venues in your field. Ask yourself three key questions:

• Who’s actually reading and sharing work from this venue? (That’s your community visibility)