publication rate/maternity leave

[Cassandra Smith]

Please explain the review the lack of reason for outstanding
performance but do so in a manner that is not deprevating....ie
estimate the amount of time yo have been able and insistant on
spending on science despite your personal committment to your family
Do not make apologies...just positive comments
Cassandra
   I wonder if I can get comments on the best way to handle career breaks on
   grant applications?  One of the reviewers comments on my NSF proposal
   referred to my publication rate as being "moderate to good" - which is
   probably fair.   However, I did not mention that I have taken maternity
   leave/working part time over the last 5 years to have 2 children, owing to
   advanced paranoia that this usually results in my being taken less
   seriously.  But I wonder now if I was being too cautious.  Would it have
   been better to include this information somewhere on the proposal so that
   my publications/years of research is more accurately reflected?  It seems
   that this would be a fairer way for panels to assess the productivity of
   researchers - but are panels ready to consider this sort of information?

   Has anyone had experience of how to handle this?

   Cheers,

   Caroline