Changing academic e-mail in a painless way

Question

I'm leaving university soon and the academic email address I've been providing in my research papers and academic contacts to reach me will be deactivated by the end of November.

What action should I undertake not to lose them?

Answer 1

Based on Buffy's answer and the comments, I still think you should try to make forwarding a policy.

Assuming that isn't going work; right now download all of your email and extract the addresses of those with whom you've corresponded. At least, you'll be able to contact them in the future.

Add a .sig to your email saying, "I'll be leaving this address soon. My personal website, https://example.com, has contact information."

If you don't have a "permanent" email address, get one. Gmail is free, and paid addresses are not expensive. Begin referring people to that address right now.

Answer 2

What you are experiencing is a common issue, and I don't know why there's no standard solution. Every time you move up the academic ladder, a new email address and lots of people who need to find a way to contact you.

I know this does not help you now, but the preventive measure is to use a personal email address for all correspondence, e.g. a Gmail account. Every year this seems to be more common.

Since you already have your institution's email listed, the best thing to do is to make sure that your personal website is easy to find through Google, and that your new email address is listed there. I know, that's not easy for J. Smith, A. Kim, and P. Rodriguez, but might be a solution if your name is uncommon. Even if your name is common, make sure that the text of the website includes lots of keywords related to your research, to help those looking for you. If your new institution provides space for personal/research webpages, make sure to use it, as these are ranked high by Google, as opposed to some @wordpress site. Also make sure to keep an active profile in academic social media sites like Researchgate, and even on sites like LinkedIn. That way, people can find you quickly.

I hate anything smelling of social media, and don't want to be served ads while reading email. When you use commercial "free" services, you are at the mercy of the company changing their terms. So my own solution has been to pay for my own domain and email address. The cost is <$40/year and gives me a permanent email address that I control. I find it's worth it.

Last, it used to be the thing that people would send email messages with "I've changed my email, please update your address book." These were sent to their whole email address book. I can't speak about the effectiveness of this approach, but since social media took over, I've been receiving less of that type of message.

Answer 3

Your university may be willing to extend the life of your address upon request. They might also be willing to forward any mail to that address to another that you specify. I suggest that you ask and if they agree, provide them with an address that you control, perhaps gmail (not an endorsement).

Otherwise it is pretty difficult. Over time you can do things to make yourself visible (personal web page, for example) and update your address individually with your contacts.

Ask co-authors to forward mails to your permanent address when inquiries about your joint papers are made. Update editors on any email changes so that enquiries to a journal might (just possibly) come to you.

If you are "corresponding author" on a paper, use an email address that will endure.

But I also encourage universities to help students, especially graduate students, to remain visible through old email addresses. My own (former) university has done this to (at least) some extent. If yours doesn't, then perhaps you can convince the faculty there to demand it.

At one time Dartmouth College promised to make all student email addresses endure forever. I thought at the time that this was a brilliant move for purposes of maintaining contact with alums if nothing else. I don't know if that policy is still in place.

Answer 4

Prevent this situation

This will not help you today, but it might help another person in the future:

1. Get your own domain name and hosting service.
2. Create an email address for your domain.
3. Create a web page for your domain that lists your contact information.
4. Always use your own email address to send emails instead of the one your employer provides.
5. Forward your institutional emails to your personal address. They may refuse to forward after you leave, but in my experience they will forward emails while you work there.

This looks more professional/official than a Gmail account.

I have used this method for many years with several institutions. I have never needed to update any accounts with third party websites or tell anyone my email address has changed. I have never lost emails because the institution removed my account.

Refusing to use my institutional email address has never caused me any real problems. I do occasionally get confused questions about it, including questions from people who do not understand where domain names come from.