CRA recommendations for Hiring, Promotion and Tenure
CRA (cra.org), the association of North American academic departments and laboratories of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields, has recently published an important document recommending adjustments to hiring, promotion, and tenure practices as well as to the publication culture in computing and information sciences.
The Best Practices Memo "Incentivizing Quality and Impact: Evaluating Scholarship in Hiring, Tenure, and Promotion" advocates that "success as a researcher should not be primarily a matter of numbers".
The more specific recommendations are:
When hiring: "evaluate candidates on the basis of the contributions in their top one or two publications, in concert with the research statement and the other standard material (e.g., letters of recommendation, full CV, teaching statement) generally read by hiring committees in determining whom to invite to campus for an interview and, ultimately, whom to hire. Candidates should identify publications where they have played a significant role."
When considering promotion and tenure: "evaluate candidates on the basis of the contributions in their most important three to five publications (where systems and other artifacts may be included). Tenure and promotion committees should invite external reviewers to comment on impact, depth, and scholarship of these publications or artifacts as well as the standard material (e.g., full CV, research statement, teaching statement). Some institutions might ask a candidate to suggest which publications or artifacts be considered, other institutions might leave that determination to the external reviewers. Per standard practice, tenure and promotion committees should read the external letters and the standard material in determining tenure and promotion decisions."
Informatics Europe fully endorses the recommendations published by CRA in this document and believes European Computer and Information Sciences departments should also have the quality (and not quantity!) of a researcher's work and contributions as the primary factor for consideration in hiring, promotion and tenure.