Productivity and Academic Position in the Scientific Career

Abstract

This paper examines the interrelationship between scientific productivity and academic position, two key dimensions of the scientific career. Contrary to the results of most earlier studies, the effect of departmental location on productivity is found to be strong, whereas the effect of productivity on the allocation of positions is found to be weak. Productivity, as indicated by measures of publications and citations, is shown to have an insignificant effect on both the prestige of a scientist's initial academic appointment and on the outcome of institution changes later in the career. Although the relationship between productivity and the prestige of an academic appointment is insignificant at the time a position is obtained, the effect of departmental prestige on productivity increases steadily with time. For those scientists it'ho change institutions, the prestige of the new department significantly affects changes in a scientist's productivity after the move. It is argued that past studies have obtained spurious results due to theirfailure to employ a longitudinal design. Not only do cross-sectional designs provide misleading results regarding the interrelationship between departmental location and productivity, but they also systematically alter the findings regarding the effects of sponsorship and doctoral training on productivity.