Cultivate high-quality referee reports

This chapter emphasizes the significance of cultivating high-quality referee reports for academic success. Referees play a crucial role in providing confidential assessments of professional capabilities for postdoctoral fellowships, academic jobs and funding opportunities. The number of referees required increases with higher academic ranks, highlighting the importance of seeking references from renowned scholars both within and outside one’s institution. Building professional relationships with referees beforehand is essential, and attention should be given to gender balance in the selection. When requesting references, provide clear information about the desired position and supply supporting documents such as the job description and CV. Seeking feedback from hiring organizations on reference quality and overall application performance can provide valuable insights for future applications. Changes in reference writing styles and increased transparency may influence the content of references, leading to a potential inflation of positive assessments.