The Character of Published Scholarship by Top Ranked African American Faculty in U.S. Social Work Programs

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This article examines the publication productivity of the (N = 14) top-ranked U.S. Black/African American scholars in the U.S. News and World Report Schools of Social Work, as identified by Huggins-Hoyt, Holosko, Briggs, and Barner (2015). Method: Publication information for each participant were taken from the Publish or Perish software site with an “author impact” search criteria that examined their lifetime publication history. Results: Results suggested that these authors: (a) published collaboratively, (b) published highly on issues pertaining to Black/African American inequality, and (c) published in journals with both high-impact scores and high-impact readership. Findings: Despite the low numbers of Black/African American scholars serving as full professors in U.S. colleges and universities, the techniques they used to circumvent systematic and structural academic barriers provide helpful tips that younger Black/African American scholars could employ when writing and publishing their research findings. However, additional research is needed to further unearth differences, and/or expectations, based on numerous variables, which includes but not limited to: (a) academic rank, (b) funded research, (c) promotion and tenure expectations, and (d) advancement of more Black/African American academic scholarship.

KEYWORDS:

• African American Scholarship
• h-index
• publication performance

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr. Michael J. Holosko, the Pauline M. Berger Professor of Family and Child Welfare, for his help with the preparation of this manuscript.