How long should an academic CV be?

There is no fixed limit. A new PhD often has a few pages, and a senior scholar with many publications and grants can have far more. Length comes from complete lists, not from padding, so include a section only when you have real content for it and keep every list in reverse chronological order.

What is the difference between an academic CV and a resume?

A resume is a short, tailored summary for a first interview. An academic CV is the full scholarly record: publications, grants, teaching, presentations and service in a conventional order. It has no summary paragraph, skills ratings or duty bullets, and it is not trimmed to one or two pages.

What order should the sections of an academic CV be in?

A common order is contact details, research interests, education, academic positions, publications, grants and funding, awards, teaching, presentations, service and references. Conventions vary by discipline and country, so check a recent CV from someone in your field and move publications or teaching up depending on the post.

Should I include work under review on my academic CV?

Yes, labelled honestly as under review, revise and resubmit, or forthcoming. Use forthcoming only for accepted work. Keep the status current, because a manuscript listed as under review for years raises questions. Some candidates leave the journal name off while a paper is under review.

Should I list grants I applied for but did not win?

It is a judgement call and advisors differ. Always list funded awards. Some candidates add a short, clearly labelled list of submitted applications for major schemes, while others leave them off. Ask a senior colleague in your field before deciding.

How can I check my academic CV before applying?

Run the finished file through NextCV's free CV check at /en/cv-check. It scores a CV out of 100 across 8 categories, needs no job description and no AI, and shows what to fix. If the post comes with a job advert, the free job match tool at /en/job-match lists keywords from the ad that your CV does not mention.

Academic CV: Format, Sections and an Example

An academic CV is a complete, reverse-chronological record of your scholarly work, not a one- or two-page sales pitch: put contact details, research interests and education first, then publications, grants, teaching, presentations, service and references, and cut nothing just to save space. Length depends on career stage (a few pages for a new PhD, much longer for a senior scholar), and you adjust the emphasis for each type of post.

Below: the section order, how to list publications and funding, a short example, and how to tailor it for faculty, postdoc and teaching-focused jobs.

Academic CV vs Resume

A resume is a short, tailored summary built to get a first interview. An academic CV is the full scholarly record: every publication, grant, course and committee that belongs in an academic career, in a conventional order. Committees expect to scan for specific headings, so a resume layout (summary paragraph, skills bars, bullets describing duties) works against you.

There is no fixed page limit. A new PhD applying for a first postdoc often has a few pages; a professor with decades of output can have far more. Lists of publications and presentations make the document long, and that is normal. Padding is not: only include sections you have real content for.

Academic CV Sections in Order

Conventions vary by country and discipline, so check a recent CV from someone in your field. This order works for most humanities, social science and science applications:

Contact details and current position. Name, institution, department, institutional email, link to your website or Google Scholar profile.
Research interests. Two or three lines naming your area and methods. Not a statement.
Education. Degrees newest first, with institution, year, and for the PhD the dissertation title and supervisor.
Academic positions. Postdocs, lectureships and visiting posts, if you have them.
Publications. The section committees read most closely (details below).
Grants, fellowships and funding. Funded awards first, with the funder, your role and the year.
Awards and honors.
Teaching experience. Courses you taught as instructor, courses you assisted, guest lectures, any course you designed.
Conference presentations and invited talks.
Supervision and mentoring, if applicable.
Service. Department and university committees, peer review, conference organizing.
Professional memberships.
References. Usually two to four names with titles and contact details, or "available on request" if the advert says so.

If you are applying to a research post, move grants and publications up. If it is a teaching-focused post, move teaching above publications. Whatever you do, keep the order consistent within each section.

An Illustrative Example

The person below is invented. It shows section order and the level of detail per entry, not content to copy.

Illustrative example

DR. MARA OKONKWO-REYES
Department of Sociology, Example University
m.okonkwo@example.edu | example.edu/~mokonkwo | Google Scholar: (link)

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Urban sociology, housing policy, mixed-methods research

EDUCATION
2021  PhD Sociology, Example University
      Dissertation: "Renting in Mid-Sized Cities" (Supervisor: Prof. A. Lindqvist)
2017  MA Sociology, Sample College

ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2023-present  Postdoctoral Fellow, Example University

PUBLICATIONS
Okonkwo-Reyes, M., & Hart, J. (2024). Title of article. Journal of Urban
  Studies, 31(2), 112-130.
Okonkwo-Reyes, M. (forthcoming). Title of article. Housing Policy Review.
Okonkwo-Reyes, M. Title of manuscript. Under review.

GRANTS AND FUNDING
2024  Research grant, Example Foundation (PI), 18 months

TEACHING
Instructor: Introduction to Sociology (undergraduate), 2022, 2023
Instructor: Research Methods (graduate), 2024
TA: Urban Sociology, 2018-2020

PRESENTATIONS
2024  "Title of paper," Annual Conference, City
2023  Invited talk, Department of Geography, Sample University

SERVICE
Reviewer: Journal of Urban Studies, Housing Policy Review

REFERENCES
Three named referees with title, institution, email

Publications: Order and Formatting

Use the citation style your field uses (APA, MLA, Chicago, or a house style) and keep it identical across entries. List entries newest first within each category: books, peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, then other writing such as reviews or reports. In fields where the monograph is the main currency, books come first.

Label the status of every item honestly:

Published: full citation with volume, issue and pages.
Forthcoming: accepted, not yet in print. Use this only for work that is actually accepted.
Revise and resubmit: invited to revise for a named journal.
Under review: submitted. Some candidates leave the journal name off at this stage.

Mark your own name in bold if the list is long and you are not first author. Keep conference papers in the presentations section, not in publications, unless your field publishes full conference proceedings as peer-reviewed output (computer science often does).

NextCV features — AI-tailored CVs, cover letters, and interview prep

Grants and Funding

Committees read funding as a sign that you can identify fundable questions and bring money to a department. List every award, large or small, with the funder, the amount if you are comfortable sharing it, your role (PI, co-PI, named researcher) and the year. Travel grants and internal awards count, but separate them from major external funding so the important entries are easy to find.

Unsuccessful applications are a judgement call. Many advisors say to leave them off; others list a short "submitted" group for major schemes. If you include them, label them clearly and keep the list short. Ask a senior colleague in your field.

Teaching

Faculty applications are read for teaching as well as research, and at teaching-focused institutions it can matter most. List courses with title, level, institution and years. Separate courses you ran yourself from courses where you assisted. Note any course you designed from scratch, and any formal teaching training you completed. A separate teaching statement, if the advert asks for one, explains your approach; the CV is the factual record behind it.

Tailoring by Type of Position

Research-intensive university (tenure-track). Put publications and funding near the top and show a clear research direction. The committee is asking whether you will keep publishing and attract grants.

Teaching-focused college. Move teaching up, add anything on mentoring and curriculum work, and keep research visible. These posts still want active scholars.

Postdoctoral fellowship. Lead with research fit. Publications, work under review, and your specific link to the lab or project matter most. Teaching can be shorter.

Research institute or government research role. Requirements vary. Many want the same publication record as a university post plus evidence of applied work such as reports or policy writing. Read the advert and mirror its priorities.

If you are moving from academia to industry, the CV changes completely: see the complete CV writing guide and the CV format guide.

Common Mistakes

Resume habits on an academic CV. A summary paragraph, a skills section with ratings, and duty bullets under each post read as the wrong genre.
Inconsistent citations. Mixed styles suggest carelessness in a document whose job is to list references.
Stale works in progress. A manuscript "under review" for three years raises questions. Update the status or remove it.
Burying your strongest section. If publications or funding are your best evidence, put them early.
Hiding gaps. If you took time out, a short neutral line (such as "parental leave, 2022") beats an unexplained gap.

See how NextCV tailors your CV to match the job posting

The CV and the Job Letter

The cover letter (job letter) interprets your record; the CV proves it. If the letter says you have a strong funding record, the grants section has to show it. If it describes your teaching approach, the courses should be listed. Reuse the same facts across applications and change only the emphasis and order for each committee.

Before you send it, run the finished file through the free CV check, which scores a CV out of 100 across 8 categories with no job description. For applications that come with a job advert, job match lists the advert's keywords your CV is missing.

Ready to put this into practice? Build your academia CV with NextCV →

If the job market pushes you sideways, the healthcare CV guide and the Project Manager CV guide have you covered.