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Adding authorship order to the quantity and quality dimensions of scholarly productivity: evidence from group- and individual-level analyses

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether authorship order—as measured by first author publications, citations to first author publications, and the first author h-index—plays a significant role in scholarly productivity. Scholarly productivity was assessed in this study with publications from 2011 to 2014 and citations to these publications as indexed by the Thomson Web of Science. Using a correlational design, a group-level analysis of 36 Ph.D.-granting departments of criminology and criminal justice revealed that ratings from a U.S. News & World Report (USN&WR) survey correlated significantly better with aggregate program first author publications than with aggregate program total publications, although citations to first author publications and the first author h-index failed to correlate significantly better with the USN&WR than citing articles to total publications and the total publication h-index, respectively. An individual-level correlational analysis of all 228 full professors from 44 programs offering a Ph.D. in criminology/criminal justice showed that time until promotion to full professor displayed a significantly stronger inverse correlation with the number of first author publications, the number of citations to first author publications, and the first author h-index than with the total number of publications, the number of citing articles to total publications, and the total publication h-index, respectively. Hence, at both the group and individual levels first author publications and at the individual level citations to first author publications and the first author h-index provided a better estimate of scholarly productivity than their respective total publication counterparts.

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Notes

  1. More than a quarter (26.8 %) of the 679 faculty members from the 44 doctoral-granting programs in criminology and criminal justice had zero total publications between 2011 and 2014 according to the Thomson WoS.

  2. A potentially promising indicator from the earlier Walters (2015) investigation (citations per articles) was considered for inclusion on the SP Index but was rejected based on preliminary evidence showing that it correlated only half as well with the USN&WR ratings as the other indicators in the group-level analysis and only one-third to one-half as well with the other indicators in the individual-level analysis. These findings suggest that the citations per articles indicator may not be measuring the same construct as the indicators on the current SP Index.

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  1. Department of Criminal Justice, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA, 19530-0730, USA

    Glenn D. Walters

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  1. Glenn D. Walters
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Correspondence to Glenn D. Walters.

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Walters, G.D. Adding authorship order to the quantity and quality dimensions of scholarly productivity: evidence from group- and individual-level analyses. Scientometrics 106, 769–785 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1803-3

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