The Researchers' Newsletter – May 2025

How do I deal with a track record of disparate publications?

Many ECR and second career ECR staff find that they have a CV that contains a lot of disparate experiences, projects and publications. How to make sense of this is a common question for coaches.

 

 

Feedback, queries, suggestions for topics most welcome; please email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

How do I deal with a track record of disparate publications?

Many ECR and second career ECR staff find that they have a CV that contains a lot of disparate experiences, projects and publications. How to make sense of this is a common question for coaches.

 

Start with Your Research Identity

Your journey as a researcher begins with one critical question: Who am I as a researcher? This is not just about your field of study. It’s about what you stand for, the impact you want to make, and the audience you hope to influence.

 

For those who are second career researchers, it is also an important way of explaining and integrating previous professional experience into your narrative and track record. For those with a dispersed track record, it is a way of combing a wide array of disparate projects and publications into a more integrated and compelling narrative.

 

Think Beyond One Path, but selectively

If you do not have a research plan, write one for the next two to five years that aligns with your identity. Map out your overarching theme(s), the key questions you want to explore, the projects you’ll pursue, and your funding and publication strategy. These will build on your narrative about your track record to date.

 

Increasingly you will need to nominate your ‘best’, say, 10 publications. This requirement can guide which of your (possibly disparate) publications that you will allow to drop away, and where you may need to invest effort to produce some new publications, that reinforce your narrative.

Address track record anomalies

If you have, for example, been asked to contribute to a variety of seemingly unrelated projects and therefore publications because of a methodological strength, think about whether this is a unifying narrative, and a research strength. If you have taken various paths to explore a research issue, then think about the narrative for this. Similarly time spent in professional roles or on consulting activities can be woven into the narrative.

 

Get some feedback

Whether or not your existing, or your revised, track record, narrative and plans ‘hang together’ is best tested by seeking feedback from your formal supervisor and trusted colleagues. While reading the track records of others who are in similar circumstances can be helpful, it is no substitute for having others read your own version.

 

Next steps: RCA coaches assist people to set out their research identity and track records, and to make realistic and achievable plans. RCA has written materials that you can access to complement this coaching.