Faculty Rank, Effort, and Success

Abstract

In recent years publication has become the central criterion in the appointment, promotion, and tenure of graduate faculty. Because normative data about publication effort and success have not been available to guide faculty personnel decisions, the author investigated variation in manuscript submission and acceptance, both within and across academic rank, among 509 faculty of 45 social work graduate programs. The results suggest that although faculty of all ranks made regular efforts to publish and achieved considerable success, higher academic rank was negatively associated with the frequency of manuscript submissions and positively associated with manuscript acceptance. The author concludes that the consistency of these empirical relationships in the cross-sectional data might evidence adherence to a traditional, academic model of publication within the schools where these faculty teach.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert G. Green

The author thanks Frank R. Baskind, dean, School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, who read the manuscript in its entirety more than once, and two anonymous reviewers, for suggesting the development and inclusion of the final paragraph of this article.