“Mount H-Index”: I never made it to base camp, and I have still had some great adventures

The Chronicle of Higher Education “Rethinking the Scientific Career”

What a fantastic article, one that feels very validating from the vantage-point of my own non-conventional scientific/academic career!

I love the metaphor used here: academic science has been set up to honor those with summit fever, to the exclusion of those who might slow down and get to know the less spectacular features of the landscape (and of course the different people and cultures who inhabit that landscape). Along the path to that summit there are a lot of casualties, as it is a harsh and risky road to the top.

I also appreciate how this article envisions change: lifestyle activism by academics is not a sufficient means of changing what it means to be an academic scientist, but those of us with the privilege of tenure do have the opportunity to lead by example. Ultimately, it is the rewards systems that we use in academic science that foster the behaviors we see in scientists. It’s time to ask the question Do the rewards systems that we employ in academic science produce the kinds of scientists we want?