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The publication trajectory of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and new professors in psychology

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A Correction to this article was published on 13 November 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

Each year as the number of graduate students in psychology increases, there is also increased competition for academic positions. The general consensus is that there is higher pressure for students to publish prolifically, yet there is little information as to what this exactly means. The main aim of the present study was to examine the average publication trajectory of a psychology student advancing to a post-doctoral fellowship to a faculty position. We obtained curricula vitae from graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty members from 2010 to 2015 in addition to self-reports from the graduate students. The number of publications substantially increased with each step of progression: graduate students published on average 2.89 (self-report) to 3.08 (CV report) papers, post-doctoral fellows on average published 8.06 papers, and junior professors on average had 14.30 publications before they were hired. The same pattern was observed even when restricting the number of publications to only those that were first-authored. However, a slightly different pattern emerged when comparing a scientometric index (zp-index) that takes into account both the quantity and quality of publications.

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  • 13 November 2017

    In the original publication, Fig. 6 does not properly label the values. The revised version of the Fig. 6 is given inthe correction article.

Notes

  1. We selected social/personality psychology as our comparison group because business schools typically hire graduates from this particular area of psychology.

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, we would like to thank the numerous research assistants in the Peterson Lab for investing countless hours into collecting and coding CVs. In particular, we would like to thank Kenny Xiong and Hank Ko for going and above and beyond their duties to complete the coding process. Second, we would like to thank Xiaowen Xu, Sabrina Thai, Jessica Maxwell, Kate Guan, Dimitry Besson, and Christian Poole for their helpful comments on prior versions of the manuscript. Finally, we would like to thank the reviewers for their contributions in improving the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Christopher Zou, Julia Tsui & Jordan B. Peterson

Authors
  1. Christopher Zou
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  2. Julia Tsui
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  3. Jordan B. Peterson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Zou.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised. The Fig. 6 does not properly label the values. The correct figure is updated in the article.

Appendices

Appendix 1: List of post-secondary institutions contacted for graduate students’ and post-doctorates’ CV

Canadian Universities

  • Brock University

  • Carleton University

  • Concordia University

  • Dalhousie University

  • McGill University

  • McMaster University

  • Queen’s University

  • Ryerson University

  • Simon Fraser University

  • University of Alberta

  • University of British Columbia

  • University of Calgary

  • University of Guelph

  • University of Manitoba

  • University of Montreal

  • University of Ottawa

  • University of Saskatchewan

  • University of Toronto

  • University of Victoria

  • University of Waterloo

  • University of Western Ontario

  • University of Windsor

  • York University

American Universities

  • Arizona State University

  • Auburn University

  • Binghamton University

  • Boston University

  • Bowling Green State University

  • Brandeis University

  • Browns University

  • Carnegie Mellon University

  • Clark University

  • Columbia University, New York

  • Cornell University

  • Dartmouth College

  • Drexel University

  • Duke University

  • Emory University

  • Florida State University

  • Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Georgia State University

  • Harvard University

  • Johns Hopkins University

  • Kent State University

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Miami University

  • Michigan State University

  • New Mexico State University

  • New York University

  • North Dakota State University

  • Northeastern University

  • Northeastern University

  • Northwestern University

  • Ohio State University

  • Ohio University

  • Pennsylvania State University

  • Princeton University

  • Purdue University

  • Rice University

  • Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick

  • Stanford University

  • State University of New York, Albany

  • State University of New York, Stony Brook

  • Syracuse University

  • Temple University

  • Tufts University

  • University at Albany, State University of New York

  • University of Arizona

  • University of Buffalo

  • University of California, Berkeley

  • University of California, Davis

  • University of California, Irvine

  • University of California, Riverside

  • University of California, San Diego

  • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • University of California, Santa Cruz

  • University of Chicago

  • University of Cincinnati

  • University of Colorado, Boulder

  • University of Connecticut

  • University of Delaware

  • University of Florida

  • University of Georgia

  • University of Houston

  • University of Illinois, Chicago

  • University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign

  • University of Iowa

  • University of Kansas

  • University of Kentucky

  • University of Louisville

  • University of Maryland, College Park

  • University of Massachusetts

  • University of Miami

  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

  • University of Missouri, Columbia

  • University of Nebraska, Lincoln

  • University of New Mexico

  • University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  • University of Oklahoma, Norman

  • University of Oregon

  • University of Pennsylvania

  • University of Pittsburgh

  • University of Rochester

  • University of South Florida

  • University of Southern California

  • University of Texas, Austin

  • University of Texas, Dallas

  • University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center

  • University of Toledo

  • University of Utah

  • University of Vermont

  • University of Virginia

  • University of Washington

  • University of Wisconsin, Madison

  • University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

  • University of Wyoming

  • Utah State University

  • Vanderbilt University

  • Virginia Commonwealth University

  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  • Wake Forest University

  • Washington University, St. Louis

  • Wayne State University

  • Yale University

Appendix 2: List of post-secondary institutions contacted for new faculty members’ CV

Canadian Universities

  • Brock University

  • Concordia University

  • Dalhousie University

  • McGill University

  • McMaster University

  • Queen’s University

  • Ryerson University

  • Simon Fraser University

  • University of Alberta

  • University of British Columbia

  • University of Calgary

  • University of Guelph

  • University of Manitoba

  • University of Ottawa

  • University of Quebec, Montreal

  • University of Saskatchewan

  • University of Toronto

  • University of Victoria

  • University of Waterloo

  • University of Western Ontario

  • University of Windsor

  • York University

American Universities

  • Arizona State University

  • Auburn University

  • Boston College

  • Boston University

  • Bowling Green State University

  • Brandeis University

  • Brown University

  • Carnegie Mellon University

  • Case Western Reserve University

  • Graduate Center of the City University of New York

  • Clark University

  • Columbia University, New York

  • Cornell University

  • Dartmouth College

  • Drexel University

  • Duke University

  • Emory University

  • Florida State University

  • George Washington University

  • Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Georgia State University

  • Harvard University

  • Indiana University, Bloomington

  • Johns Hopkins University

  • Kent State University

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Michigan State University

  • New York University

  • Northeastern University

  • Northwestern University

  • Ohio State University

  • Penn State University

  • Princeton University

  • Purdue University

  • Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick

  • Stanford University

  • State University of New York, Albany

  • State University of New York, Binghamton

  • State University of New York, Buffalo

  • State University of New York, Stony Brook

  • Syracuse University

  • Temple University

  • Tufts University

  • University of Alabama, Birmingham

  • University of Arizona

  • University of California, Berkeley

  • University of California, Davis

  • University of California, Irvine

  • University of California, Los Angeles

  • University of California, San Diego

  • University of Chicago

  • University of Cincinnati

  • University of Colorado, Boulder

  • University of Connecticut

  • University of Delaware

  • University of Florida

  • University of Georgia

  • University of Houston

  • University of Illinois, Chicago

  • University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign

  • University of Iowa

  • University of Kansas

  • University of Kentucky

  • University of Louisville

  • University of Maryland, College Park

  • University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  • University of Miami

  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

  • University of Missouri, Columbia

  • University of Nebraska, Lincoln

  • University of New Mexico

  • University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  • University of Oregon

  • University of Pennsylvania

  • University of Pittsburgh

  • University of Rochester

  • University of Southern California

  • University of Texas, Austin

  • University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center

  • University of Vermont

  • University of Virginia

  • University of Washington

  • University of Wisconsin, Madison

  • University of South Florida

  • Vanderbilt University

  • Virginia Commonwealth University

  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  • Washington University, St. Louis

  • Wayne State University

  • Yale University

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Zou, C., Tsui, J. & Peterson, J.B. The publication trajectory of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and new professors in psychology. Scientometrics 117, 1289–1310 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2540-6

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