“Publish or perish.” Every graduate student has heard the phrase.Many junior scholars understand that it reflects the cold reality ofprofessional survival in any political science department that basestenure and promotion decisions, in whole or in part, on a record ofdemonstrated scholarly achievement. Despite occasionalpronouncements by college presidents or faculty committees thatteaching should be given greater weight in personnel decisions, thepressure to publish will not soon subside. If anything, it may bebecoming more acute, as graduate students entering the job marketstruggle to publish some portion of their dissertation in arespected scholarly journal so as to distinguish themselves from thepack of applicants presenting otherwise similar credentials.I wish to thank Jack Jacobs, LennyMarkovitz, Michael Hiscox, and the graduate students at the CUNYGraduate Center and Harvard University for many usefulsuggestions and comments on the presentations that served as thebasis for this article. I have incorporated ideas offered by JimJackson, Marianne Stewart, and John Geer at an editors'roundtable in which we participated at the 2006 MidwestPolitical Science Association meeting. Bob Lineberry and twoanonymous referees helped me to clarify certain points in themanuscript. I am responsible for any errors thatremain.