Prestige of current affiliation shapes scientific productivity

The scientific productivity of early-career faculty is shaped by the prestige of their current place of employment, not the prestige of their past training environment, a study finds. Faculty at more prestigious institutions produce more of the scientific literature than faculty at less prestigious institutions. This imbalance is often attributed to a meritocratic system that rewards an individual's skill or effort. Exploring an alternative view, Samuel Way, Allison Morgan, Daniel Larremore, and Aaron Clauset tested the extent to which external factors such as past and current work environments influence productivity. The authors analyzed a comprehensive dataset that documents the doctorate-to-faculty transitions of 2,453 tenure-track faculty at all 205 PhD- granting computer science departments in the United States and Canada, spanning 1970-2011, along with complete records of scholarly output through 2017. For matched pairs of faculty with appointments at similarly prestigious institutions, the individual who received doctoral training at the more prestigious institution was not more productive in the first 5 years after being hired. For matched pairs of faculty who received doctoral training at similarly prestigious institutions, the individual employed at the more prestigious institution produced, on average, 5.1 additional papers in the first 5 years after being hired. The results indicate that the scientific productivity of early-career faculty is influenced by the prestige of their current place of employment, not the prestige of their past training environment. According to the authors, the findings suggest that past successes are locked in via placement into more prestigious departments, which directly facilitate future success.

Article #18-17431: "Productivity, prominence, and the effects of academic environment," by Samuel Way, Allison Morgan, Daniel Larremore, and Aaron Clauset.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Daniel Larremore, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; tel: 303-735-8757; e-mail: daniel.larremore@colorado.edu; Aaron Clauset, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; tel: 303-492-6643; e-mail: aaron.clauset@colorado.edu

###