How do I list publications and writing in progress on my c.v.?

What is a c.v. and why is it important?

A c.v. (curriculum vitae) is an academic resumé

A c.v. is extremely important—it is used for graduate school applications, academic jobs, tenure, promotion, grant applications, and awards

It needs to be extremely accurate—mistakes on a c.v. can cost you a job. I knew of someone who was denied tenure just for inaccurately listing page numbers of their articles on their c.v.!

How do I list publications on my c.v.?

If something is listed on a c.v. under “publications,” that means the publication has either been accepted for publication (without any changes), is in press, is out online with a DOI number, or is out in print.

If the publication is in an academic journal, the process from acceptance to production is so quick that you can list an article as “in press” as soon as you get an email from the editor accepting the article.

However, if the publication is a chapter in an edited book, the person editing the book may accept your chapter before notifying the publishing company. That book chapter should be listed as “accepted for publication” because it is not yet in press.

There are several methods of listing publications (APA format, Chicago format, etc.) and all are fine as long as you are consistent. I use APA format

Example of an academic article from in press to out in final form:

As soon as this article was accepted by the journal’s editor, I listed it on my c.v. as:

1. Coker, A.D., & Rothblum, E.D. (in press). Mentoring mid-career women faculty: Expanding roles and changing priorities. Psychology of Women Quarterly.

Then as soon as the article was out online with a DOI number, I changed it to:

1. Coker, A.D., & Rothblum, E.D. (2024). Mentoring mid-career women faculty: Expanding roles and changing priorities. Psychology of Women Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843241266257

And when I saw that it had appeared online in an actual journal issue with a volume, issue, and page numbers, I changed it to:

1. Coker, A.D., & Rothblum, E.D. (2025). Mentoring mid-career women faculty: Expanding roles and changing priorities. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 49(1), 137-142.

Note that a year can pass from when an article is out online with just a DOI number and when it appears in final form with volume/issue/page numbers.

Example of an academic book chapter from accepted to out in final form:

1. Rothblum, E.D. (accepted for publication). Key researcher. In V. Clarke, S.J. Ellis, E. Peel and D.W. Riggs (Eds.). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer psychology: An introduction. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Once the book was published, I included the year and also the page numbers:

1. Rothblum, E.D. (2010). Key researcher. In V. Clarke, S.J. Ellis, E. Peel and D.W. Riggs (Eds.). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer psychology: An introduction (pp. 243-244). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

How do I list works that are in progress but not yet published on my c.v.?

Students or junior faculty members with few publications may want to include a section about scholarly work in progress. It is very important to put this into a separate section from the section about actual publications!

There should be no question on a c.v. about what has actually been published and what has not yet been published.

Submitted for publication

If you list an article or book chapter as submitted for publication, you need to include all authors and the exact title. For example:

1. Coker, A.D., & Rothblum, E.D. (submitted for publication). Mentoring mid-career women faculty: Expanding roles and changing priorities.

Note that you do not list the name of the journal or book to which it has been submitted, because there is no guarantee that it will be accepted.

Make sure when you list something as submitted, that you actually have a full article available if an admissions committee wants to see the article!

Do not say something is submitted if it’s only a draft.

Any articles or book chapters that you have submitted and that are under revision should also be listed as submitted.

Research in progress

This section can list any work in progress, including drafts of articles or book chapters, and also detailed ideas about current or future research. Give each item a tentative title.

If you list these topics on your c.v., be prepared to have an admissions committee member ask you to tell them about the project in some detail.

How do I list presentations on my c.v.?

Presentations can include (1) academic conference posters, talks, symposia, workshops, keynote addresses, and discussions; (2) invited talks and colloquia at a university (if you are invited to interview for an academic job, giving a colloquium in that department is often part of the interview and can be listed on your c.v.); and (3) informal community talks.

Example of a conference talk:

1. Rothblum, E.D., Calogero, R., Kawahara, D., Marecek, J., & Szymanski, D. (March, 2021). How to publish in and contribute to feminist journals. Chair and presenter, structured discussion for the annual convention of the Association for Women in Psychology, virtual conference.

Be sure to indicate your exact role in the presentation. Note in the example above I was both chair and presenter.

A chair often does little more than welcome the audience, introduce the speakers, and keep an eye on time.

A discussant often evaluates the presentations at the end of a panel or symposium.

Be sure to list all authors in the order in which you submitted this proposal to the conference—that is also how your presentation will be listed in the conference brochure.

Conference posters and talks based on research typically list all authors of the research, even if only one author attends the conference and gives the talk.

That presenter is usually listed as first author of the presentation, even if they are not first author on the subsequent publication.

Can I list a presentation on my c.v. if it has been accepted for a conference but the conference hasn’t happened yet?

No, presentations should be listed on a c.v. once they have taken place.

Important—do not combine publications and presentations in the same section of your c.v.

Publications are nearly always more important than presentations.

Do not list your presentation as a publication, even if the conference catalog had a brief written description of your talk.

There are some exceptions to this—some disciplines have detailed published conference proceedings that are as prestigious as publications.

What if something was published or presented in another language?

It is important to include the actual title of your publication or presentation in the original language, but it should be followed by an English translation in parentheses, immediately after the title.

For example:

[신간 안내] «보스턴 결혼»섹스 없이 사랑을 이야기하는 방법 (Boston marriage: How to talk about love without sex)

Should I list items in ascending or descending order?

Items on a c.v. are usually listed in numerical order by date.

It doesn’t matter if you list them from the earliest to the latest, or vice versa, as long as you are consistent.

Some people list the latest items first, because admissions committees are more likely to notice them, and these items are most likely to reflect current scholarly work.

Be sure to number publications and presentations, because admissions committees often make note of the number of these items, and you are saving them the hassle of counting these.

Can I leave items off my c.v.?

Yes, you can. It is not required that a c.v. includes everything.

If you published an article that you don’t want the admissions committee to notice, or if you gave a talk to elementary school children with a goofy title, you can omit these on your c.v.

Senior faculty members with lots of publications may leave off early publications that are no longer relevant to their current work. A mentor of mine used to end his list of several hundred publications with the statement “selected early publications” without listing them.