Being highly prolific in academic science: characteristics of individuals and their departments

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Abstract

The prolific (exceptionally high producers of scholarly publications) are strategic to the study of academic science. The highly prolific have been drivers of research activity and impact and are a window into the stratification that exists. For these reasons, we address key characteristics associated with being highly prolific. Doing this, we take a social-organizational approach and use distinctive survey data on both social characteristics of scientists and features of their departments, reported by US faculty in computer science, engineering, and sciences within eight US research universities. The findings point to a telling constellation of hierarchical advantages: rank, collaborative span, and favorable work climate. Notably, once we take rank into account, gender is not associated with being prolific. These findings have implications for understandings of being prolific, systems of stratification, and practices and policies in higher education.

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Author and article information

Journal

Title: Higher Education

Abbreviated Title: High Educ

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

ISSN (Print): 0018-1560

ISSN (Electronic): 1573-174X

Publication date Created: June 2021

Publication date (Electronic): August 24 2020

Publication date (Print): June 2021

Volume: 81

Issue: 6

Pages: 1237-1255

Article

DOI: 10.1007/s10734-020-00609-z

SO-VID: 515271f2-47c2-4e72-bf0d-040d076b35d1

License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

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