Benchmarking Individual Publication Productivity in Logistics

What constitutes excellence in publication productivity in logistics journals? Several previous studies have examined this question at the institutional level. However, prior literature has not examined in detail the research productivity patterns of the entire distribution of individual logistics authors across a relatively large number of journals within a lengthy time frame. Prior work has also not established the benchmarks or thresholds of individual research productivity, in terms of both quantity and quality, which are necessary to be ranked among the leading contributors in the discipline. To address this void in the literature, we examine 3,312 articles published in seven leading logistics journals from 1990 to 2009, inclusive, to which 3,657 different individual authors contributed at least one authorship or coauthorship. Using the rankings and associated percentiles of individual authors according to six quality and quantity metrics, we identify the aggregate productivity benchmarks necessary for individual authors to be ranked at various positions in the field. We find that the thresholds necessary to be among the leaders in logistics research productivity, or to meet typically posited expectations for performance, are not necessarily reflective of the traditional wisdom.