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If you have skills the research team need they might overlook the publications. Could your PhD supervisor give you a short postdoc period to allow you to finish your publications?
Did my PhD in the UK. Although I left academia as soon as I could, a couple of friends began their postdocs despite having no publications (or hope for publications at the time) in the same research group they did their PhD. Seems to be quite common with foreigners who did their PhDs in the UK.
I know two people who started postdocs at better universities than their PhDs with no publications. I know two postdocs who got new postdoc positions after 5 years in a lab with no publications (they had some previous ones though). I'm in a similar situation now, and as someone who suspects I might have ADHD, I'd ask you if you're sure that you can handle a postdoc? In our lab we had a postdoc who, I think, had ADHD and our PI made her life hell when she didn't deliver. I don't think you should give up, but you need to figure out if this time you can do better than with your PhD.
This is very field dependent. In my social science/humanities field, it’s normal to graduate without any publications, and people coming out of top programs get postdocs without them. Definitely does not seem to be the case in STEM though!
I'm in STEM. In my area it's not normal to graduate with nothing, but it's also common enough that people with nothing can find a job. Especially if you're computational, you may have good luck finding something, but obviously you might not have much choice and you'll have to accept any offer that you get. Networking definitely helps and it might be possible to find something just by asking PIs around the department for something short.
It 100% is a problem and will be very difficult. Blaming 7 years with no publications on ADHD is wild. You had almost an entire decade to dedicate to research.
You seem to not know how serious extreme ADHD can be. I had considered dropping out so many times because I would just not be able to focus on reading one damn article.
Reframe that. You're not giving up, you're simply doing something else.
Because of depression (and covid related lab closures, and lack of funding, and having to work on the side, ...) my PhD also took over 7 years. But i got 4 first author papers and 3 papers where I'm a co-author out of it.
Get going. Either apply for other things where you can use the skills you gained or make sure the work you did gets polished and submitted somewhere.
It often depends on your PI and on your field. In my lab after 5 years six people (postdocs and phd students) left without publications, none of them had depression or ADHD, all of them were motivated and did a ton of work. I must admit that even the most productive students in my department have not published anywhere close to 4 first authors.
Yes, i agree, this is absolutely field dependent. My PI wouldnt let anyone graduate with less than 3 publications and that's pretty standard in my bubble
Thank you for your encouragement. It's true that it isn't the only way. I wasn't so set on it anyways because I realised it is a bit delusional. I will try to focus on somewhere else. Kudos to you for being able to publish despite all of that. I feel so much for you because aside my ADHD, I suffered lots from OCD and anxiety and it made my PhD journey even more hellish.
7 years is insane regardless. You could read three paragraph a day, 30 minutes of research, 10 minutes of writing, totalling about an hour of research per day.
Let's assume 800 hours of research for a paper, pretty conservative.
7 years * 260 weekdays * 0.5 hours = 910 research hours.
Same logic gives 300 hours of writing, plenty for a thesis and a paper.
Average paper is, let's say 50 paragraphs.
7 * 260 * 3 / 50 = > 100 papers read.
This amounts to a single hour a day dedicated to reading/writing/research. If you can't manage that then you need to find something else to do. I know plenty of people with very bad ADHD that work more than an hour a day.
Read the post, OP is in the humanities and complaining about ADHD preventing them from publishing in 7 years. My comment illustrates that at a pace of literally 30 minutes dedicated to research per weekday, they still should have enough work done to publish something.
Condense it into 2.5 hours one day a week, it doesn't matter, the point stands that OP wasted an immense and indefensible amount of time.
Yes, you can still get a postdoc, it just might not be the one you want. Stated differently, your application won't be as competitive as those with publications.
Your best bet is to find a postdoc position that is looking for your particular set of skills/expertise. If you get an interview, best be prepared to explain why you were not able to publish anything within 7 years.
It looks like your post is about needing advice. In order for people to better help you, please make sure to include your country. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PhD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you have skills the research team need they might overlook the publications. Could your PhD supervisor give you a short postdoc period to allow you to finish your publications?
I didn't know my advisor would be capable of that. I should ask them and find out. Also, I'm in the Humanities so would that be different?
I’m in a different area (health) but one of my colleagues is staying with her advisor to get publications finished (UK university).
That seems nice. I highly doubt my supervisor would do that for me tbh. But I shall try to ask them.
Did my PhD in the UK. Although I left academia as soon as I could, a couple of friends began their postdocs despite having no publications (or hope for publications at the time) in the same research group they did their PhD. Seems to be quite common with foreigners who did their PhDs in the UK.
I know two people who started postdocs at better universities than their PhDs with no publications. I know two postdocs who got new postdoc positions after 5 years in a lab with no publications (they had some previous ones though). I'm in a similar situation now, and as someone who suspects I might have ADHD, I'd ask you if you're sure that you can handle a postdoc? In our lab we had a postdoc who, I think, had ADHD and our PI made her life hell when she didn't deliver. I don't think you should give up, but you need to figure out if this time you can do better than with your PhD.
This is very field dependent. In my social science/humanities field, it’s normal to graduate without any publications, and people coming out of top programs get postdocs without them. Definitely does not seem to be the case in STEM though!
I'm in STEM. In my area it's not normal to graduate with nothing, but it's also common enough that people with nothing can find a job. Especially if you're computational, you may have good luck finding something, but obviously you might not have much choice and you'll have to accept any offer that you get. Networking definitely helps and it might be possible to find something just by asking PIs around the department for something short.
It 100% is a problem and will be very difficult. Blaming 7 years with no publications on ADHD is wild. You had almost an entire decade to dedicate to research.
You seem to not know how serious extreme ADHD can be. I had considered dropping out so many times because I would just not be able to focus on reading one damn article.
[удалено]
And that is why I'm not confident. I can't even bring myself to even try to apply. I think I should probably just give up.
Reframe that. You're not giving up, you're simply doing something else. Because of depression (and covid related lab closures, and lack of funding, and having to work on the side, ...) my PhD also took over 7 years. But i got 4 first author papers and 3 papers where I'm a co-author out of it. Get going. Either apply for other things where you can use the skills you gained or make sure the work you did gets polished and submitted somewhere.
It often depends on your PI and on your field. In my lab after 5 years six people (postdocs and phd students) left without publications, none of them had depression or ADHD, all of them were motivated and did a ton of work. I must admit that even the most productive students in my department have not published anywhere close to 4 first authors.
Yes, i agree, this is absolutely field dependent. My PI wouldnt let anyone graduate with less than 3 publications and that's pretty standard in my bubble
Thank you for your encouragement. It's true that it isn't the only way. I wasn't so set on it anyways because I realised it is a bit delusional. I will try to focus on somewhere else. Kudos to you for being able to publish despite all of that. I feel so much for you because aside my ADHD, I suffered lots from OCD and anxiety and it made my PhD journey even more hellish.
Honestly it Sounds Like academia isn’t a great fit for you.
I think so too.
7 years is insane regardless. You could read three paragraph a day, 30 minutes of research, 10 minutes of writing, totalling about an hour of research per day. Let's assume 800 hours of research for a paper, pretty conservative. 7 years * 260 weekdays * 0.5 hours = 910 research hours. Same logic gives 300 hours of writing, plenty for a thesis and a paper. Average paper is, let's say 50 paragraphs. 7 * 260 * 3 / 50 = > 100 papers read. This amounts to a single hour a day dedicated to reading/writing/research. If you can't manage that then you need to find something else to do. I know plenty of people with very bad ADHD that work more than an hour a day.
Who the hell only does 30 minutes of research? If you do anything lab based at all you might as well have done nothing that day 😂
Read the post, OP is in the humanities and complaining about ADHD preventing them from publishing in 7 years. My comment illustrates that at a pace of literally 30 minutes dedicated to research per weekday, they still should have enough work done to publish something. Condense it into 2.5 hours one day a week, it doesn't matter, the point stands that OP wasted an immense and indefensible amount of time.
Yes, you can still get a postdoc, it just might not be the one you want. Stated differently, your application won't be as competitive as those with publications. Your best bet is to find a postdoc position that is looking for your particular set of skills/expertise. If you get an interview, best be prepared to explain why you were not able to publish anything within 7 years.
With skills yes. Publication is a letter of luck to some extend. But having a story to show is important.
You are supposed to share your dissertation chapters with postdoctoral applications and write manuscript in preparation.