[atty]

When fields are small, they can rely on much higher fidelity signals for hiring (having significant interactions with the individuals at conferences and workshops, for instance). I did my PhD in a sub field of nuclear physics, and even though I only published one paper in my PhD, I got a job offer at an Ivy League university because I had done extensive work with their group in collaboration, and the group leaders liked me.

However, now that many research fields are so massive that it is impossible to personally know the majority of individuals, institutions need other ways of judging individuals. The number of papers published is a weak signal, but it’s better than nothing. Now that it’s being so heavily gamed by so many individuals, that signal strength is decreasing even more.

There’s also a second strong corrupting factor that many, if not most, of these individuals do not want to become professors, they want to get a high paying job in industry, which means their short term output is far more important to them than their long term reputation in the field.

I honestly don’t know what can be done to fix this that wouldn’t have negative side effects. But perhaps the side effects would be better than the situation we are in now.