Academic CV: Format, Structure and Example for PhD and Research Jobs
An academic CV is a different document from the CV you'd send to a company. It has no page limit, it puts research before everything else, and it's read by other academics who check every publication, grant and conference you list. Whether you're applying for a PhD, a postdoc, a lectureship or a research grant, the reader wants the same thing: a complete, accurate record of your academic work, organised so they can judge it quickly. This guide covers the sections, the order, the formatting conventions and the national formats some countries require.
How an academic CV differs from a normal CV
The two documents follow different rules:
| Aspect | Academic CV | Standard CV |
|---|---|---|
| Length | As long as your record needs: 2–4 pages for a PhD applicant, often 10+ for a senior academic | 1–2 pages |
| Goal | A complete record of research, teaching and service | A selective pitch for one job |
| First section | Education, then research | Profile and work experience |
| Key evidence | Publications, grants, conferences, teaching | Results in previous jobs |
| Profile summary | Usually none, or a short research statement | Common |
The sections of an academic CV, in order
There's no single official order, but most academic CVs follow this sequence, with the strongest material near the top:
- Contact details, plus academic profiles such as ORCID, Google Scholar or a university web page
- Education: degrees in reverse order, with thesis titles and supervisors for the PhD and master's
- Academic positions: postdoc, lecturer, research assistant, with institutions and dates
- Publications: journal articles, books, chapters, conference papers, preprints
- Grants, funding and fellowships, with amounts and your role
- Awards and honours
- Conference presentations and invited talks
- Teaching experience and supervision of students
- Service: reviewing, committees, organising events, editorial roles
- Skills: languages, methods, software, lab techniques
- References: usually two or three academics, with contact details
For a research-heavy post, publications and grants move up; for a teaching post, teaching goes higher. Tailor the order, but never leave out a category the call asks for.
How to list publications
Publications are usually the most important section, and readers check them carefully:
- Use one consistent citation style, the one most common in your field (for example APA, Chicago or the style of your main journals)
- Split by type: peer-reviewed articles, books and chapters, conference proceedings, preprints and works under review
- List in reverse chronological order within each type
- Put your own name in bold so it's easy to see your position in the author list
- Mark status honestly: 'under review', 'accepted', 'in press'. Never list a submitted paper as published
- Add DOIs or links where they help
If you have only one or two publications, that's normal for a PhD applicant. List conference posters, a master's thesis or a working paper to show you're active.
Grants, teaching, conferences and service
These sections show that you can win funding, communicate your work and contribute to your department:
- Grants: title, funder, amount, dates and your role (principal investigator, co-investigator, named researcher)
- Teaching: courses taught, level, your role (lecturer, tutor, teaching assistant) and student numbers
- Supervision: students supervised, with level and, later, their thesis titles
- Conferences: talk or poster title, conference name, city and date; mark invited talks
- Service: peer review for named journals, committee work, organising seminars or workshops
Even small items count early in a career: a travel grant, a guest lecture or reviewing for a conference all belong here.
A CV for a PhD application
If you're applying for a PhD, you won't have much to list yet, and nobody expects you to. Focus on what predicts a good researcher:
- Education with grades, rankings and the title of your master's or bachelor's thesis
- Research experience: thesis work, research assistant jobs, lab internships, summer schools
- Methods and technical skills relevant to the project: statistics, programming, lab techniques, languages
- Any output: a poster, a conference talk, a co-authored paper, a published dataset
- Scholarships and awards
- Two academic references who know your research work
Keep it to two or three pages. Send it with a research proposal or motivation letter when the call asks for one.
How to write a motivation or cover letter that gets readNational formats and platforms you may be asked to use
Some countries and funders don't accept a free-form CV for academic applications. Check the call before you start:
| Country or funder | Format | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | CVN (Currículum Vitae Normalizado) | Standard academic CV run by FECYT, used in many public research and university calls |
| Portugal | CIÊNCIA VITAE | National platform for researchers' CVs, used in FCT and other calls |
| European Union | Europass CV | Sometimes requested in EU-funded programmes and some universities |
| Many funders | Short template CV | Many grant calls set their own short CV template with a page limit |
| UK, US, most universities | Free-form academic CV | Your own document, following the conventions in this guide |
An ORCID identifier is increasingly expected everywhere, and some national platforms can import your publications from it.
How the Europass CV works and when to use itFormatting an academic CV
Academic readers care about clarity, not design:
- One column, a readable serif or sans-serif font, clear section headings
- Page numbers and your name in the footer, because the CV runs to several pages
- Dates on the right or left, aligned the same way in every section
- No photo unless the country or call expects one
- Save and send as a PDF
Keep a 'master' CV with everything, and trim a version for each application.
Fonts and formatting rules that keep a CV readableCommon mistakes on academic CVs
The most frequent problems are about accuracy and order:
- Listing submitted or planned papers as if they were published
- Mixing citation styles or leaving out co-authors
- Hiding publications in the middle of the CV, below teaching or service
- Using a business-style profile full of soft skills instead of research evidence
- Ignoring a required national format or page limit in a grant call
- References who don't know your research, or who weren't asked first
A good test: could a colleague in your field verify every line in a few minutes? If yes, the CV is doing its job.
How to choose and present referencesFrequently asked questions
How long should an academic CV be?
As long as your record requires. A PhD applicant usually needs two or three pages, an early-career researcher three to six, and senior academics often ten or more. There's no penalty for length, only for padding.
What is the difference between an academic CV and a resume?
An academic CV is a complete record of education, research, publications, grants, teaching and service, with no page limit. A resume or standard CV is a short, selective document of one or two pages focused on results in previous jobs.
How do I list publications on my CV?
Group them by type, list each group in reverse chronological order, use one consistent citation style, put your own name in bold and mark the status of anything not yet published, such as 'under review' or 'in press'.
What should a CV for a PhD application include?
Education with grades and thesis titles, research experience, relevant methods and technical skills, any output such as posters or papers, scholarships and awards, and two academic references.
Does an academic CV need a summary or profile?
Usually not. Academic CVs start with education and research. Some people add a short research statement at the top, but the publications and positions should do most of the talking.