PUBLICATION PRODUCTIVITY IN DOCTORAL RESEARCH DEPARTMENTS - INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INTRADISCIPLINARY FACTORS

Examination of a national data set reporting departmental levels of publication productivity in 23 disciplines revealed very large differences between disciplines, with the mean departments in the most "productive" disciplines averaging more than 10 times the number of publications of the mean departments in the least "productive" disciplines. The differences within disciplines were also very large. Analyses of the characteristics of departments associated with productivity showed great variation across disciplines. Regression analyses indicated the importance of size and internal university support rather than federal support. Similar results are reported for the number of citations to the work of departments. The implications of these results for program review and the reputations of departments are reviewed. © 1991 Human Sciences Press, Inc.