Incentives and the Effects of Publication Lags on Life Cycle Research Productivity in Economics
Abstract
We investigate how increases in publication delays have affected the life-cycle of publications of recent Ph.D. graduates in economics. We construct a panel dataset of 14,271 individuals who were awarded Ph.D.s between 1986 and 2000 in US and Canadian economics departments. For this population of scholars, we amass complete records of publications in peer reviewed journals listed in the JEL (a total of 368,672 observations). We find evidence of significantly diminished productivity in recent relative to earlier cohorts when productivity of an individual is measured by the number of AER equivalent publications. Diminished productivity is less evident when number of AER equivalent pages is used instead. Our findings are consistent with earlier empirical findings of increasing editorial delays, decreasing acceptance rates at journals, and a trend toward longer manuscripts. This decline in productivity is evident in both graduates of top thirty and non-top thirty ranked economics departments and may have important implications for what should constitute a tenurable record. We also find that the research rankings of the faculty do not line up with the research quality of their students in many cases.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 17043.Length:
Date of creation: May 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17043
Note: LS PR
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Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- John P. Conley & Mario J. Crucini & Robert A. Driskill & Ali Sina Onder, 2011. "Incentives and the Effects of Publication Lags on Life Cycle Research Productivity in Economics," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 1122, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
- A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
- J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
- J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
- J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2011-05-24 (All new papers)
- NEP-EFF-2011-05-24 (Efficiency & Productivity)
- NEP-SOG-2011-05-24 (Sociology of Economics)
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- John P. Conley & Ali Sina Onder & Benno Torgler, 2012.
"Are all High-Skilled Coherts Created Equal? Unemployment, Gender, and Research Productivity,"
School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series
293, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
- Conley, John P. & Önder, Ali Sina & Torgler, Benno, 2012. "Are all High-Skilled Cohorts Created Equal? Unemployment, Gender, and Research Productivity," Working Paper Series 2012:13, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
- John P. Conley & Ali Sina Onder & Benno Torgler, 2012. "Are all High-Skilled Cohorts Created Equal? Unemployment, Gender, and Research Productivity," CREMA Working Paper Series 2012-15, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
- John P. Conley & Ali Sina Onder & Benno Torgler, 2013. "Are all High-Skilled Cohorts Created Equal? Unemployment, Gender, and Research Productivity," QuBE Working Papers 006, QUT Business School.
- John P. Conley & Ali Sina Önder & Benno Torgler, 2012. "Are all High-Skilled Cohorts Created Equal? Unemployment, Gender, and Research Productivity," Working Papers 2012.86, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
- KRAPF, Matthias & SCHLÄPFER, Jörg, 2012.
"How Nobel Laureates Would Perform In The Handelsblatt Ranking,"
Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies,
Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 12(3).
- Jörg Schläpfer & Matthias Krapf, 2012. "How Nobel Laureates Would Perform in the Handelsblatt Ranking," KOF Working papers 12-318, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
- Libman, A., 2011. "Journals as a Selection Tool in Economics," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, issue 12, pages 174-177.
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