An academic CV is a complete record, read by hiring committees who want to see everything. It grows across a career and has no page limit. A PhD student's might run to three pages, a professor's to twenty.
The sections, in the usual order
- Contact details and current position.
- Research interests: two or three lines.
- Education: degrees, institutions, years, thesis titles and supervisors.
- Academic appointments: positions, newest first.
- Publications: split into peer-reviewed articles, books and chapters, conference papers, and preprints or under review.
- Grants, fellowships and awards, with amounts where usual in your field.
- Teaching: courses taught, your role, level and year.
- Conference presentations and invited talks.
- Supervision and mentoring.
- Service: reviewing, committees, editorial work.
- Skills and languages, if relevant: lab methods, software, field languages.
- References: usually three, with full contact details.
Changing the order by stage
Put your strongest section first after education. An early-career researcher with two papers and lots of teaching might list teaching before publications for a teaching-focused post. A research post wants publications and grants high.
Listing publications
Use the citation style your field uses, consistently, newest first. Bold your own name in author lists so a reader can see your position. Mark student co-authors if your field does.
Academic CV vs industry resume
Leaving academia? Cut the CV to two pages, lead with skills and results, and turn publications into a short "Selected publications" list. A research scientist example shows a middle ground for industry research roles.
The Scholar template is built for academic, research and medical posts, with room for publications and grants.
Questions people ask
- How long should an academic CV be?
- As long as your record needs. There is no page limit; two to four pages is typical for a PhD student, much longer for senior academics.
- Should an academic CV have a photo?
- Not in the US or UK. Some European countries are more open to it, but it is rarely expected.
- What is the difference between an academic CV and a resume?
- An academic CV is a complete record of research, teaching and service with no page limit. A resume is a one- or two-page selection aimed at one job.