Publication Date:
2016-06-16
Description:
In this paper we examine the relationship between research performance, age, and seniority in academic rank of full professors in the Italian academic system. Differently from a large part of the literature, our results generally show a negative monotonic relationship between age and research performance, in all the disciplines under analysis. We also highlight a positive relationship between seniority in rank and performance, occurring particularly in certain disciplines. While in medicine, biology, and chemistry this result could be explained by the ‘accumulative advantage’ effect, in other disciplines, like civil engineering, and pedagogy and psychology, it could be due to the existence of a large performance differential between young and mature researchers, at the moment of the promotion to full professors. These results, witnessed both generally and at the level of the individual disciplines, offer useful insights for policy makers and administrators in academia on the role of older professors.
Print ISSN:
0302-3427
Electronic ISSN:
1471-5430
Topics:
Nature of Science, Research, Systems of Higher Education, Museum Science
Permalink
