The European research elite: a cross-national study of highly productive academics in 11 countries

Marek Kwiek

doi:10.1007/s10734-015-9910-x

Abstract

In this paper, we focus on a rare scholarly theme of highly productive academics, statistically confirming their pivotal role in knowledge production across 11 systems studied. The upper 10 % of highly productive academics in 11 European countries studied (N = 17,211) provide on average almost half of all academic knowledge production. In contrast to dominating bibliometric studies of research productivity, we focus on academic attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions as predictors of becoming research top performers across European systems. Our paper provides a (large-scale and cross-country) corroboration of the systematic inequality in knowledge production, for the first time argued for by Lotka (J Wash Acad Sci 16:317–323, 1929) and de Solla Price (Little science, big science. Columbia University Press, New York, 1963). We corroborate the deep academic inequality in science and explore this segment of the academic profession. The European research elite is a highly homogeneous group of academics whose high research performance is driven by structurally similar factors, mostly individual rather than institutional. Highly productive academics are similar from a cross-national perspective, and they substantially differ intra-nationally from their lower-performing colleagues.

Highlights

This paper focuses on a unique class of highly productive academics in Europe, as well as on the predictors for becoming highly productive, from a European cross-national comparative perspective
We sought to empirically test the expectations arising out of prior smaller-scale and single-nation research. We explore both the intra-national differences in research productivity between this European research elite and the rest of research-involved academics, and cross-national differences and similarities among this European elite
In only three countries do the rest of academics spending more time than top performers on any of the studied activities: This is teaching in Ireland, Italy, and Poland

Summary

Introduction

This paper focuses on a unique class of highly productive academics in Europe, as well as on the predictors for becoming highly productive, from a European cross-national comparative perspective. We sought to empirically test the expectations arising out of prior smaller-scale and single-nation research. We explore both the intra-national differences in research productivity between this European research elite and the rest of research-involved academics (or ‘‘average’’ academics, as they are termed in Stephan and Levin 1992: 57–58 and Prpic 1996: 185), and cross-national differences and similarities among this European elite. Following prior research on the predictors of research productivity (especially Allison and Stewart 1974; Fox 1983; Stephan and Levin 1992; Ramsden 1994; Teodorescu 2000; Lee and Bozeman 2005; and recently Leisyte and Dee 2012; Shin and Cummings 2010; Drennan et al 2013), our guiding question is as follows: How different are highly productive academics from ‘‘average’’ academics, how differently do they work and perceive their work, and which factors are positively correlated with high research performance?

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Conclusion