And what are your plans

I’m a 30 year old PhD candidate researching global Christian history with an emphasis in Ethiopian Orthodoxy.
There aren’t a ton of church history positions opening these days, and Ethiopic studies is a pretty small field. I’m currently working in a staff role at a small private university, and I really want to move into a faculty position. I’ve adjusted a few courses, and I expect to defend my dissertation December of ‘27 or January of ‘28.
I’ve presented multiple papers at the AAR/SBL annual meetings the past couple years, but my PhD program encouraged us not to have anything officially published until we finish our thesis so that we don’t have to worry about plagiarizing ourselves. I’m part of a pretty prestigious fellowship for my field, and I’ve become friends with some scholars at R1 schools through participating in AAR/SBL.

What else should I be doing?

Sorry this is so rambly, I’m having a time of it right now and am sort of crashing out about my future job prospects. Any advice would be appreciated.

I published a conference paper about five years ago, while I was a master’s student. I recently discovered that I might have submitted a version of the paper that was not the final draft. I do not have any information about those old files right now (I must have lost them). Some passages in the published paper included citations but were not properly paraphrased, and the paper also contained some reference errors. The methods and results are unaffected, but some of the wording is clearly not my own. I was shocked to discover this.

A description of the data, provided by one of my co-authors, also included citations but was not properly paraphrased. The conference was a one-time event, and the organizers have not held another one since. I also noticed that the paper has been cited three times by other researchers. I am now a PhD student.

The methods and results are accurate, but there are problems with the text, including plagiarism (because of not paraphrasing and citing). What would be the best course of action?

I want to send the conference organizers an email, but I’m unsure whether the conference paper can be corrected or retracted, given how much time has passed and the fact that it’s a conference paper.

Did anyone else grow up being the 'smart kid' who dove headfirst into a niche, nerdy scientific field, pushed through a lot of personal chaos, and now finds themselves at 25 in post-grad with a great CV.........only to suddenly realize that life kind of passed you by? I’ve never been in a serious relationship, it feels nearly impossible to find someone who gets me, 'normal' fun feels awkward or foreign, and I can't turn my brain off from research or exams to actually relax or travel. What is actually going on here?

Is it just me?😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Ps: single ppl shoot ur shot😅🤷‍♂️

Is everyone in academia always working constantly or is this just my imagination?

I feel like every successful scholar I know is working constantly, and I just can't live up to these models of productivity. I'm a neurodivergent person who needs recovery time after high-masking events (which is basically constant with teaching, even if I enjoy it. And it's infinitely worse for conferences and interviews).

I've started my first position (a Visiting Prof job) after a rough PhD. I feel so burnt out, and the teaching load isn't even bad ---I suspect the workload will get even worse in a TT job (assuming I can even land one).

Can anyone offer some hope at the end of the tunnel? I'm trying to figure out if my perception is wrong and I just need to push through, or this is the real situation and I need to rethink my life choices.

Hey! I'm a researcher in forest science that recently found out that a respected journal in my field, Forest policy and economics, is systematically encouraging all authors to add additional references to the own journal without having any specific motivation for it. This happens throughtout the peer review-process, where the editor adds this comment during each revision round. In my case, papers from the journal was already heavily cited, and still this comment appeared both in major and minor revisions. I have now asked around, and this seems to be common practice by the editor, as my collegues has had the same experience. I assume this is being done to increase impact factor, which I find really unethical. What can I do to shine light on this problem? I have already provided feedback throught the standard survey that is sent out after publicing, but I feel I would like to do something more.

I’m currently on the tenure-track at a pseudo-R1 university in a decently sized city in a red state. It's pretty much been in shambles since I arrived. The university has its R1 designation, but my College is clearly operating in a different universe that prioritizes teaching above all else. I enjoy teaching but I’ve had 10 new preps in the last eight semesters... It’s relentless.

I’m in the social sciences and my work is interdisciplinary enough that I work with other STEM fields and the differences between them are stark. Some of these differences are not surprising (3/3 teaching load, lots of service, meager resources, stagnant pay, no admin, labs, etc), but the attitudes around them are frustrating. I’m made to feel guilty whenever I try to prioritize research and writing, and have been denied opportunities to do so (was recently told to decline an external fellowship that I was awarded…).

Given how much they value teaching, I’ve tried to find ways to create more overlaps between my research and teaching, or to frame my research to highlight how it benefits student outcomes, but my research overall has definitely suffered as a consequence. I’m told that I’ll have nothing to worry about for tenure, but I just think we have different ideas of success.

I suspect that a lot of this is related to my university (and others) being in utter survival mode. Our only degree program was recently cut and it feels like our days are numbered. I just don’t feel like I can be the best version of myself here.

Like many of my colleagues, I’ve been looking elsewhere. Unsurprisingly the academic market for my discipline has been pretty sparse.

Recently I’ve been in talks with a non-profit that I’ve worked with for awhile. They’re mostly known for education and outreach, but they’re looking to a hire a director to expand their research profile. This would mean much higher pay, an extremely flexible schedule, and a very healthy annual budget to support research, equipment, travel, and hiring research staff members, postdocs, etc.

Their grass is looking awfully green right now, but I also worry that I’ll regret it. The org itself is small and has not been active in research in many years. It’ll be a lot of work to build their reputation. It’ll also potentially be very isolating. It's in a rural area and I worry that I’ll miss the intellectual stimulation of a university campus and the diversity of a city, where I have lots of friends and am constantly introduced to unexpected ideas and perspectives.

But my current “dream job” isn’t at all what I expected and I’ve been very unhappy.

What am I missing though? What will I regret if I leave my tenure-track position? Access to resources, grants, people, benefits…? What if it sucks? Am I going to lock myself into the non-profit world forever? Could I still be marketable in academia later? Could I still be affiliated with a university? Or maintain collaborations? Or is it worth trying to weather the storm at my current institution?

Apologies if this has been asked before, but new perspectives are always welcome. It sounds like a broad moan, but please bear with me: genuine question here!

I’ve had (temporary) full-time academic lecturing roles in UK academia since 2016: balance of teaching and research, and developing my CV on par with what’s expected.

I’ve always enjoyed my job, but recently I’ve started to fall out of love. The way the job market is in the UK, I think I’m done with the relentless kickbacks and negativity.

I’m wondering if people can give suggestions for what other jobs are out there? Do you know people who left the field, and what successes have they had in other employment sectors?

I’ve done plenty of my own research about possible opportunities, but I’m wondering what everybody else thinks.

For context: I’m a classic humanities academic: archives, reading long texts and teaching interpretative skills.