The 'publish or perish' system has been widespread in the global higher education sector to incentivize academic performance. How the system affects academics in non-western countries has received scant attention. This research studies the relationship between different types of employment contracts, work pressure and the childbearing decisions of women academics in China. The data were collected in 2019 through a survey of 453 women academics working in universities in China. The research establishes a significant correlation between the types of contracts and the reproductive practices of women academics of childbearing age. In order to obtain more detailed information on the underlying consequences of the new system and the respondents' coping strategies, interviews were conducted with women academics across different stages of their career. We found that the respondents who had not signed a fixed-term contract on average had higher reproductive intentions than those who had signed the contract. They have adapted their reproductive behaviour according to work pressure. The universities adopting such an evaluation system need to adjust the contract terms to allow women academics to be able to balance work and life. The findings contribute to the understanding of the impact of this global trend.