I never truly appreciated how much of a professor’s job research and publishing were until I became a graduate student. In undergrad they were simply my professors who I saw 2 or 3 times a week coupled with the occasional office hours visit. It was not until I met with graduate faculty to discuss their research that I learned about the other aspect of their job as well as the pressure to publish.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Stress-of-Academic/241156
The article above has some astounding statistics. In 2013, out of approximately 12,000 manuscripts that were submitted to journals published by the American Psychological Association, over 76 percent were rejected, and some journals rejected as many as 90 percent of manuscripts. The article states this anxiety due to waiting can be tough on not just assistant professors but graduate and doctoral students as well.
I think this predicament shows the pressure that professors feel to publish, especially as they try to attain tenure. With Virginia Tech being a research 1 institution, I have no doubt that professors seeking tenure have to publish x amount of articles in order to get there. Waiting a long time and/or ultimately getting rejected can place much anxiety on them, especially as they juggle doing that with teaching their classes as well. We really need to rethink the pressure we put on professors, and also provide resources to help them deal with stress or other mental health issues that may come about as they embark on this arduous journey.