Determinants of research productivity in higher education

As research expenditures have risen and as sources of research funding have changed, an increased emphasis on research performance has developed in U.S. research universities. Although much of the historical debate has centered around the individual attributes of faculty, several recent studies have begun to focus on the effect of program or organizational factors as powerful attributes for enhancing such productivity. This paper extends the findings of these recent studies by examining the relationship between academic research productivity and institutional factors from the most recent National Research Council data on the nation's research universities and their programs in the four broad fields of the biological sciences, engineering, the physical sciences and mathematics, and the social and behavioral sciences. Several findings are recommended for institutional policymakers.