Differences by Rank

Compared to associate and assistant professors, a greater proportion of full professors had published or had had accepted for publication: three or more articles (73% vs. 59% of associate and 54% of assistant professors), at least one chapter in an edited volume (63% vs. 56% of associate and 47% of assistant professors), and at least one book, manual, or monograph (42% vs. 28% of associate and 17% of assistant professors). For each of these three categories, associate professors were the second most likely of the three ranks to have authored these publication types.

A similar pattern also exists with regard to who is most likely to have been awarded at least one new grant in the past two years as the primary investigator (63% of full professors vs. 58% of associate and 56% of assistant professors) or as a CO-investigator (54% of full professors vs. 41% of associate and 48% of assistant professors). However, in these cases the differences are not as substantial.

Differences by Gender

Females are less likely than males to have published three or more articles in the past two years (53% vs. 68%) or to have been awarded a new grant as either a primary (54% vs. 62%) or CO-investigator (41% vs. 52%). However, examining these measures of productivity by gender must be done with caution because females are not present in equal proportions across the schools or among the ranks. Fewer than 20% of the respondents from Agriculture, Engineering, and Science and only 24% of faculty from Veterinary Medicine are female – four of the schools with the highest productivity in terms of journal publications and awarded grants. Also, 53% of males are full professors compared to 22% of females. As noted previously, full professors are the most likely to have published and to have been awarded grants.

In terms of other publications, males and females publish at essentially the same rates. Fifty-nine percent of females and 56% of males have published at least one chapter in an edited volume during the past two years and 30% of females and 32% of males have published one or more books, manuals, or monographs during this time period.

Differences by Race

Asian-Americans are the most likely to have published three or more articles in the past two years (78% have done so compared to 54% of underrepresented minorities and 63% of Caucasians). They are also the most likely to have been awarded a new grant as either the primary investigator (79% vs. 46% of underrepresented minorities and 59% of Caucasians) or the CO-investigator (59% vs. 32% and 49% respectively). Asian-Americans and Caucasians are more likely than underrepresented minorities to have published a chapter in an edited volume (57% for the first two groups compared to 36% for underrepresented minorities). No noteworthy differences by race exist in terms of book/manual/monograph publications.

As with differences between genders, the distribution of faculty by race across the schools and ranks must be taken into account when these comparisons are made. Almost 60% of Asian-American respondents work in the Schools of Engineering and Science, compared to one quarter of underrepresented minorities and Caucasians. This is a significant fact because faculty in these two schools have a higher than average number of article publications and grant awards. Also, fewer underrepresented minorities are full professors (17%) compared to Asian Americans (47%) and Caucasians (46%) and a greater proportion are assistant professors (50% vs. 38% for Asian Americans and 24% for Caucasians). Again, full professors are the most likely to have published and been awarded grants and assistant professors are, in most cases, the least likely to have done so.