Indicating post-dissertation research on a CV?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader writes:

I have a separate section on my CV for papers under review. I was wondering whether it's a good idea to highlight which of these papers are derived from my PhD thesis, and which ones are not? I can imagine it's helpful if a search committee sees that about half of my papers under reviews aren't thesis chapters, meaning that I am (hopefully) capable of producing further non-thesis research. On the other hand, it also somehow feels as if I define myself by my thesis, especially as I am currently in a postdoc position. I would appreciate some input on this!

Good question. Another reader submitted the following response:

You are way over thinking things. These papers are JUST under review. They are not publications - it matters not whether you wrote them as part of your dissertation or as part of a new project. That is something you can talk about, if you get an interview, but even then it does not matter.

I half-agree with this response. Speaking as a search committee member, I think it can matter whether a candidate has a robust research program beyond the dissertation. Search committee members can want to know whether candidates are likely to publish enough to get tenure, and at least typically, that requires publishing articles beyond the dissertation. So, I think it is a good idea for a CV to show that the candidate has such a research program. I just don't think the OP needs to explicitly indicate this in their CV. This is because it is usually pretty easy to tell, just by looking at the candidate's dissertation title and/or research statement, what is a part of their dissertation, and what's not. So, that's what I would do: just list the papers they have published and under review, and let the reader infer what goes beyond the dissertation.

But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? 

Comments

[SLAC Associate]

Isn't this exactly what research statements are for? Indicate what you're presently working on, which pieces merely tidy up the dissertation, which extendss it, and which are entirely new and original.

[anon]

This isn't something I list on my CV, but I speak about it in statements in a way that I feel makes it obvious enough what is from the dissertation and what is not. You can use phrases like:

"In some of my previous research, I addressed questions about the ethics of [W] - this work is published in [X], [Y], and [Z]. My most recent research has turned to questions about the metaphysics of [W]. I'm interested in [these questions]. One of my manuscripts based on this new line of research is under review. In it, I argue [that whatever]."

[Tim]

I think this issue is very slight, and will likely not matter to most people looking at the CV. I think a more useful issues is not thesis vs non-thesis but subject matter. If you have various papers under review, you could identify the areas they are in. That way, people might see the range of areas you are trying to work in.

[Jonathan Ichikawa]

This kind of information should be in a cover letter and/or research statement; don't complicate the CV with it.