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I am in my third year of postdoc in Germany. Working in CS, I published only very few papers (3 in A* venues) during my postdoc. There are several reasons why I couldn't publish a lot of papers including a lot of teaching and working in industrial projects and no collaboration (due to the difference in topics between me and my colleagues), etc. Also, my published papers are not cited too much and comparing to other colleagues who publish in lower level venues, my publications get 1/4 of citations without knowing what are the reasons. I assume the number of publications, the quality of publications and the number of citations are the criteria to evaluate researchers.

My goal was to pursue a career in Academia and apply for a professorship but with this achievement, it does not seem feasible. I am thinking to quit academia but I am not sure whether it is the right decision because it is not what I want but what I think I have to do.

I am afraid if I wait longer, I won't find a place in industry and cannot get a professorship/tenure position.

EDIT

To generalize this situation with direct questions:

  1. When is it too late for a researcher (postdoc in patricular) to catch up?
  2. What to do to increase the number of citations (or it is not important) given that the papers are published in well-reputed venues.
  3. Should a researcher focus more on paper quantity over quality when the low quantity is noticeable? (with the assumption that a good paper need more work, time and effort)

For (3), chosing quality over quantity will obviously lead to less papers and less citations.

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    When you vote -1, at least leave a comment what is wrong with the question!
    – Capsule
    Aug 26, 2020 at 5:53
  • Does this answer your question? Shall I quit academia or continue doing research without too much luck?
    – henning
    Aug 26, 2020 at 7:01
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    @henning--reinstateMonica Thank you for referring to the other question but let me point that most of the questions are depndent on individual factors especially when talking about these topics where every situation is different from the other. Even slight difference makes a big change.
    – Capsule
    Aug 26, 2020 at 7:55
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    @henning--reinstateMonica My question is different because I don't feel I am a bad researcher but whether the circumstances that didn't allow me to publish a lot of papers will prevent me from getting a position in the future. Another side of the question is whether it is late to catch up and compensate these years. When is it too late for a researcher to catch up? What to consider to increase the number of citations (or it is not important) given that the papers are published in well-reputed venues. Should a researcher focus more on quality over quantity when the low quantity is noticeable?
    – Capsule
    Aug 26, 2020 at 8:03
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    For question (1): here Stack Exchange is not so good, but have you tried looking in the Internet? I found some claims when one should stop. For question (3): Could you ask this somebody you know in real life and not in the Internet: On the Internet, people will rarely say "focus on quantity instead of quality" because this is just not the right thing to say and most people will not want this associated to their name, so you might get skewed answers on the Internet.
    – user111388
    Aug 26, 2020 at 9:08

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