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Synthetic chemist Christine Le says it’s important for a researcher to include every achievement — such as presentations, student milestones and publications — in their tenure review package. Sofie Kirk

Earlier this year, J. Mijin Cha received tenure for the second time. Cha had been tenured — given confirmed, permanent employment — at Occidental College, a mainly undergraduate university in Los Angeles, California, before joining the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), a large research institution. Although the two tenure processes were different, she says that both felt opaque and, at times, frustrating.

At UCSC, she says, “some of the early research I’d done was about integrating equity and justice considerations into climate policy, which is still an emerging field”. This made it difficult to put this part of her work into the proper context and highlight its significance for her tenure application. “I do remember wishing I’d had more guidance,” she says.

She’s not alone. To convince their peers that they deserve a tenured position — often viewed as the pinnacle of the academic career path — academics must gather enough evidence of their productivity in research, teaching and service to their institution and colleagues. The process can be fraught and stressful and is often unclear.

Is it time for tenure to evolve?

A step-by-step guide to nailing your tenure promotion package