Dataset Information

Labor advantages drive the greater productivity of faculty at elite universities.

ABSTRACT: Faculty at prestigious institutions dominate scientific discourse, producing a disproportionate share of all research publications. Environmental prestige can drive such epistemic disparity, but the mechanisms by which it causes increased faculty productivity remain unknown. Here, we combine employment, publication, and federal survey data for 78,802 tenure-track faculty at 262 PhD-granting institutions in the American university system to show through multiple lines of evidence that the greater availability of funded graduate and postdoctoral labor at more prestigious institutions drives the environmental effect of prestige on productivity. In particular, greater environmental prestige leads to larger faculty-led research groups, which drive higher faculty productivity, primarily in disciplines with group collaboration norms. In contrast, productivity does not increase substantially with prestige for faculty publications without group members or for group members themselves. The disproportionate scientific productivity of elite researchers can be largely explained by their substantial labor advantage rather than inherent differences in talent.

SUBMITTER: Zhang S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9674273 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Labor advantages drive the greater productivity of faculty at elite universities.

Zhang Sam S Wapman K Hunter KH Larremore Daniel B DB Clauset Aaron A

Science advances 20221118 46

Faculty at prestigious institutions dominate scientific discourse, producing a disproportionate share of all research publications. Environmental prestige can drive such epistemic disparity, but the mechanisms by which it causes increased faculty productivity remain unknown. Here, we combine employment, publication, and federal survey data for 78,802 tenure-track faculty at 262 PhD-granting institutions in the American university system to show through multiple lines of evidence that the greater ...[more]

PMID: 36399560

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundAcademic programs are increasing simulation-based learning in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 pandemic; however, there is limited knowledge about these universities' simulation culture readiness. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore faculty perceptions of the readiness to integrate simulation into nursing programs.MethodsThis cross-sectional correlational study recruited faculty members in four nursing colleges at Saudi universities using the simulation culture organizational readiness survey 36-item questionnaire. A total of 88 faculty members from four Saudi universities were included. Descriptive, Pearson's correlation, independent sample t-test, and analysis of covariance analysis were utilized in this study.ResultsNearly 39.8% and 38.6% of the participants had Moderately and Very Much overall readiness for the simulation-based education (SBE), respectively. There were significant correlations between the summary impression on simulation culture readiness measures and simulation culture organizational readiness survey subscales (p < 0.001). Three simulation culture organizational readiness survey subscales (defined need and support for change, readiness for culture change, and time, personnel, and resource readiness) and the overall readiness for SBE were correlated with age, years since highest degree, years of experience in academia, and years using simulation in teaching (p < 0.05). The sustainability practices to embed culture subscale and summary impression were only correlated significantly with the number of years using simulation in teaching (p = 0.016 and 0.022, respectively). Females had a significantly higher mean in the sustainability practices to embed culture subscale (p = 0.006) and the overall readiness for simulation-based education (p = 0.05). Furthermore, there were significant differences among the highest degree in the overall readiness for SBE (p = 0.026), summary impression (p = 0.001), the defined need and support subscale (p = 0.05), the sustainability practices to embed culture subscale (p = 0.029), and the time, personnel, and resource readiness subscale (p = 0.015).ConclusionsFavorable simulation culture readiness results suggest great opportunities to advance clinical competencies in academic curricula and optimize educational outcomes. Nurse academic leaders should identify needs and resources to enhance simulation readiness and encourage the integration of simulation in nursing education.

Project description:Over the past 50 years the diversity of higher education faculty in the mathematical, physical, computer, and engineering sciences (MPCES) has advanced very little at 4-year universities in the United States. This is despite laws and policies such as affirmative action, interventions by universities, and enormous financial investment by federal agencies to diversify science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) career pathways into academia. Data comparing the fraction of underrepresented minority (URM) postdoctoral scholars to the fraction of faculty at these institutions offer a straightforward empirical explanation for this state of affairs. URM postdoc appointments lag significantly behind progress in terms of both undergraduate and Ph.D.-level STEM student populations. Indeed, URM postdoc appointments lag well-behind faculty diversity itself in the MPCES fields, most of which draw their faculty heavily from the postdoctoral ranks, particularly at research-intensive (R1) universities. Thus, a sea-change in how postdocs are recruited, how their careers are developed, and how they are identified as potential faculty is required in order to diversify the nation's faculty, and particularly the R1 MPCES professoriate. Our research shows that both Ph.D. students and postdocs benefit from intentional structure at various levels of their respective "apprentice" experiences, a factor that we believe has been neglected. Several key structural approaches are highly effective in these regards: (1) A collaborative approach in which leading research universities collectively identify outstanding URM candidates; (2) Faculty engagement in recruiting and supporting these postdocs; (3) Inter-institutional exchange programs to heighten the visibility and broaden the professional experiences of these postdocs; (4) Community-building activities that create a sense of belonging and encourage continuing in academia for each cohort; and (5) Continuing research based on outcomes and new experimental approaches. The California Alliance, consisting of UC Berkeley, UCLA, Caltech, and Stanford, has been engaged in such a program for almost a decade now, with most of the California Alliance URM postdocs now in tenure track positions or on the path toward careers as faculty at research intensive (R1) institutions. If this approach was brought to scale by involving the top 25 or so URM Ph.D.-producing R1 institutions in the MPCES fields, about 40% of the national URM postdoctoral population in these fields could be affected. Although this impact would fall short of bringing URM MPCES faculty ranks up to full representation of the United States population as a whole, it would vastly improve the outlook for URM students and their aspirations to take on leadership roles as scientists and engineers.

Dataset Information

Labor advantages drive the greater productivity of faculty at elite universities.

Publications

Labor advantages drive the greater productivity of faculty at elite universities.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets