Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The research productivity of academic psychologists: assessment, trends, and best practice recommendations

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Research productivity affects the careers of academic psychologists. Unfortunately, there is a surprising lack of consensus on productivity’s meaning, measurement, and how to compare the productivity of one academic psychologist to another. In the present study, we review academic productivity research within psychology, and using a sample of 673 psychologists, compute six indexes of productivity. Most productivity metrics (publication count, citation count, or some combination of the two) were substantially interrelated and one (Integrated Research Productivity Index) was independent from years in the field. Female psychologists were equally as productive as male psychologists after accounting for years in the field, and pre-tenure psychologists showed steeper change-over-time productivity slopes than post-tenure psychologists. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for the use and measurement of academic research productivity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The big five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44(1), 1–26. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb00688.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellas, M. L., & Toutkoushian, R. K. (1999). Faculty time allocations and research productivity: Gender, race and family effects. Review of Higher Education, 22, 367–390.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowling, N. A., & Burns, G. N. (2010). Scholarly productivity of academic SIOP members: What is typical and what is outstanding? The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 47, 11–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buboltz, W. C., Jenkins, S. M., Thomas, A., Lindley, L. D., Schwartz, J. P., & Loveland, J. M. (2005). Research productivity in counseling psychology: An update. The Counseling Psychologist, 33(5), 709–728. doi:10.1177/0011000005277814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buboltz, W. C., Miller, M., & Williams, D. J. (1999). Content analysis of research in the Journal of Counseling Psychology (1973–1998). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46(4), 496–503. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.46.4.496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duffy, R. D., Martin, H. M., Bryan, N. A., & Raque-Bogdan, T. L. (2008). Measuring individual research productivity: A review and development of the integrated research productivity index. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(4), 518–527. doi:10.1037/a0013618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, M. F. (2005). Gender, family characteristics, and publication productivity among scientists. Social Studies of Science, 35(1), 131–150. doi:10.1177/0306312705046630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golden, C. J., Kuperman, S. K., & Osman, D. C. (1980). Productivity ratings of psychology programs based on publications in clinical journals. Professional Psychology, 11(5), 797–806. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.11.5.797.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, R. A., & Smith, C. J. (1989). Research productivity in social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 51(3), 463–472. doi:10.1177/0146167289153015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch, J. E. (2005). An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(46), 16569–16572. doi:10.1073/pnas.0507655102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard, G. S., Cole, D. A., & Maxwell, S. E. (1987). Research productivity in psychology based on publication in the journals of the American Psychological Association. American Psychologist, 42(11), 975–986. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.42.11.975.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard, G. S., & Day, J. D. (1995). Individual productivity and impact in developmental psychology. Developmental Review, 15(2), 136–149. doi:10.1006/drev.1995.1006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard, G. S., Maxwell, S. E., Berra, S. M., & Sternitzke, M. E. (1985). Institutional research productivity in industrial/organizational psychology. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70(1), 233–236. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.70.1.233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jauch, L. R., Glueck, W. F., & Osborn, R. N. (1978). Organizational loyalty, professional commitment, and academic research productivity. Academy of Management Journal, 21(1), 84–92. doi:10.2307/255664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joy, S. (2006). What should I be doing, and where are they doing it? Scholarly productivity of academic psychologists. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 346–364. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00020.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judd, C. M., McClelland, G. H., & Ryan, C. S. (2009). Data analysis: A model comparison approach (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Colbert, A., Cable, D. M., & Rynes, S. L. (2007). What causes a management article to be cited—article, author, or journal? Academy of Management Journal, 50, 491–506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Kammeyer-Mueller, J., & Bretz, R. D. (2004). A longitudinal model of sponsorship and career success: A study of industrial-organizational psychologists. Personnel Psychology, 57, 271–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. K. (2001). The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 376–407. doi:I0.1037//0033-2909.I27.3.376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, J. H. (2001). Predicting the scholarly activity of counseling psychology students: A refinement and extension. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48(3), 344–354. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.48.3.344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, J. H., & Scott, N. A. (1997). Predictors of research productivity and science-related career goals among counseling psychology doctoral students. The Counseling Psychologist, 25(1), 38–67. doi:10.1177/0011000097251005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47, 263–292.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, P. J., Smither, J. W., & Hurley, R. B. (1991). Relationship of vocational personality and research training environment to the research productivity of counseling psychologists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 22(5), 362–367. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.22.5.362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuncel, N. R., Hezlett, S. A., & Ones, D. S. (2004). Academic performance, career potential, creativity, and job performance: Can one construct predict them all? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(1), 148–161. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leahey, E. (2006). Gender differences in productivity: Research specialization as a missing link. Gender & Society, 20(6), 754–780. doi:10.1177/0891243206293030.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. (2003). Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game. New York: Norton.

  • Mahoney, K. T., Buboltz, W. C., Calvert, B., & Hoffmann, R. (2010). Research productivity in select psychology journals, 1986–2008. The Journal of Psychology, 144, 361–411. doi:10.1080/00223980.2010.480901.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell, S. E., & Howard, G. S. (1986). Institutional research productivity in quantitative psychology. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 46(4), 845–852. doi:10.1177/001316448604600405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, G. H. (2000). Nasty data: Unruly, ill-mannered observations can ruin your analysis. In H. T. Reis & C. M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology (pp. 393–411). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, N. P., & Bachrach, D. G. (2008). Scholarly influence in the field of management: A bibliometric analysis of the determinants of university and author impact in the management literature in the past quarter century. Journal of Management, 34, 641–720. doi:10.1177/0149206308319533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pudovkin, A. I., & Garfield, E. (2009). Percentile rank and author superiority indexes for evaluating individual journal articles and the author’s overall citation performance. Journal of Scientometrics and Information Management, 3, 3–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quiñoes-Vidal, E., López-García, J., Peñaranda-Ortega, M., & Tortosa-Gil, F. (2004). The nature of social and personality psychology as reflected in JPSP, 1965–2000. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(3), 435–452. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.3.435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodgers, R. C., & Maranto, C. L. (1989). Causal models of publishing productivity in psychology. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(4), 636–649. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.74.4.636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Royalty, G. M., & Magoon, T. M. (1985). Correlates of scholarly productivity among counseling psychologists. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 32(3), 458–461. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.32.3.458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sax, L. J., Hagedorn, S. L., Arredondo, M., & Dicrisi, F. A. (2002). Faculty research productivity: Exploring the role of gender and family-related factors. Research in Higher Education, 43(4), 423–446. doi:10.1023/A:1015575616285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

  • Simonton, D. K. (1997). Creative productivity: A predictive and explanatory model of career trajectories and landmarks. Psychological Review, 104, 66–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonton, D. K. (2003). Scientific creativity as constrained stochastic behavior: The integration of product, person, and process perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 475–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skovholt, T. M., Stone, G. L., & Hill, C. E. (1984). Institutional affiliations of contributors to scholarly and professional activities in counseling psychology: 1980–1983. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31(3), 394–397. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.31.3.394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. C., Locke, S. G., Boisse, S. J., Gallagher, P. A., Krengel, L. E., Kuczek, J. E., et al. (1998). Productivity of educational psychologists in educational psychology journals, 1991–1996. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 23(2), 173–181. doi:10.1006/ceps.1997.0961.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. C., Plant, M., Carney, R. N., Arnold, C. S., Jackson, A., Johnson, L. S., et al. (2003). Productivity of educational psychologists in educational psychology journals, 1997–2001. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 28(3), 422–430. doi:10.1016/S0361476X(02)00044-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stack, S. (2004). Gender, children and research productivity. Research in Higher Education, 45(8), 891–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, P. K., Roberts, M. C., & Roy, K. M. (2007). Scholarly productivity in clinical psychology PhD programs: A normative assessment of publication rates. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 14(2), 157–171. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2850.2007.00075.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroebe, W. (2010). The graying of academia: Will it reduce scientific productivity? American Psychologist, 65, 660–673.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vancouver, J. B., Yoder, R. J., & More, K. M. (2008). What makes a productive I-O faculty member: A predictive validity study. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 45(3), 27–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webster, R. E., Hall, C. W., & Bolen, L. M. (1993). Research productivity in school psychology journals: 1985–1991. Psychology in the Schools, 30, 136–142. doi:10.1002/1520-6807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West, S. L., Armstrong, A. J., & Ryan, K. A. (2005). An assessment of institutional publication productivity in rehabilitation counseling. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 49(1), 51–54. doi:10.1177/00343552050490010601.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, I. O., & Cable, D. M. (2003). Predicting early career research productivity: The case of management faculty. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(1), 25–44. doi:10.1002/job.178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wispe, L. G. (1969). The bigger the better: Productivity, size, and turnover in a sample of psychology departments. American Psychologist, 24(7), 662–668. doi:10.1037/h0028008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie, Y., & Shauman, K. A. (1998). Sex differences in research productivity: New evidence about an old puzzle. American Sociological Review, 63(6), 847–870. doi:10.2307/2657505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zelenski, J. M., Murphy, S. A., & Jenkins, D. A. (2008). The happy-productive worker thesis revisited. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(4), 521–537. doi:10.1007/s10902-008-9087-4.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Florida, PO Box 112250, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Ryan D. Duffy, Alex Jadidian & Gregory D. Webster

  2. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Kyle J. Sandell

Authors
  1. Ryan D. Duffy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alex Jadidian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gregory D. Webster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kyle J. Sandell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ryan D. Duffy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Duffy, R.D., Jadidian, A., Webster, G.D. et al. The research productivity of academic psychologists: assessment, trends, and best practice recommendations. Scientometrics 89, 207–227 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-011-0452-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-011-0452-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation