What maximizes productivity and impact in political science research?

Abstract

What contributes toward academic productivity and impact in political science research publications? To consider this issue, Part I of this article describes the core concepts and their operationalization, using the h-index. The study theorizes that variations in this measure may plausibly be influenced by personal characteristics (like gender, career longevity, and formal qualifications), working conditions (academic rank, type of department, and job security), as well as subjective role perceptions (exemplified by the perceived importance of scholarly research or teaching). Part II sets out new evidence used for exploring these issues, drawing upon the ECPR-IPSA World of Political Science survey. This study gathered information from 2446 political scientists in 102 countries around the globe. Part III presents the distribution and analysis of the results, as well as several robustness tests. Part IV summarizes the key findings and considers their broader implications. In general, several personal characteristics and structural working conditions prove significant predictors of h-index scores, whereas motivational goals and role perceptions add little, if anything, to the models. Thus, who you are and where you work seems to predict productivity and impact more than career ambitions and social psychological orientations toward academic work.

Appendix

Source: The ECPR-IPSA World of Political Science survey, spring 2019. N.2466

Var	Measure	Question	Coding
	Personal characteristics
V32	Gender	What is your gender	1 Female/0 male
Q24	Career longevity	In what year did you complete your highest degree?	Year (1943–2019)
Q22	Formal qualifications	What is the highest level of education you successfully completed?	Undergraduate degree (1), Masters or professional degree (2), doctoral degree or equivalent (3).
Q34	Dependents	Do you currently have responsibilities for any dependents living at home?	Additive scale from No dependents (0), yes children (1), yes elderly relatives (1)
	Working conditions
V16	Academic rank	Which of the following categories best describes the most senior position you have held?	7-pt scale from Graduate student (1) to Senior administrative position such as PVC, Dean, Head of Faculty or School, or equivalent (7)
V29	Income	Please indicate your gross personal annual income before taxes and benefits
V12_6	Job security	Thinking about your current employment, please indicate how true you feel each of the following statements are: My job is secure.	4-pt scale from “Not at all true” to “Very true.”
V17	Contract	If in academic employment, which of the following best describes your current post?	Temporary post (no legal contract, e.g., hourly paid work) (1), fixed term contract (2), Continuous contract (tenured position(3).
V15	Work status	Which of the following best describes your current work status?
Q21	Size of department	If currently in academic employment or studying, which of the following best describes the approximate number of FTE academic teaching and research staff in your current university or college (or past one if retired or unemployed) (excluding administrative staff).	6-point scale from 9 or fewer (1) to 50 or more (5)
Q22	Size of institution	If currently in academic employment or studying, which of the following best describes the approximate number of FTE students in your current university or college (or past one if retired or unemployed).	5-pt scale from 9000 or fewer (1) to 50,000 or more (5)
Q2	Highly cited society: country of work/study	In what country do you currently work or study?	Recoded (0/1) by the top 10 nations in the 2019 WoS list of countries with the most highly cited researchers across all disciplines (1) or not (0).
	Role perceptions
Q6-9	Research	How important are each of the following goals to you personally?	See Table 1
Q6-9	Teaching	How important are each of the following goals to you personally?	See Table 1
Q6-9	Publishing	How important are each of the following goals to you personally?	See Table 1
Q6-9	Policy impact	How important are each of the following goals to you personally?	See Table 1
Q6-9	Work-life balance	How important are each of the following goals to you personally?	See Table 1