Abstract
Using author-index data from 19 major mass-communication journals spanning 1915-1990, this study constructs a longitudinal yardstick for individual research productivity among active scholars. All 28,466 author citations listed in the 1990 Index to Journals in Communication Studies were coded; scholars who had published within the previous five years were classified as active. The analysis identified 11,476 active authors with a mean output of 2.48 articles and isolated the 26 most prolific, each with at least 17 publications. Degree-granting institutions for these high performers clustered at Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Stanford, while current appointments were dispersed across 18 universities. The authors argue that a tally of roughly one to two articles per year is a realistic benchmark for tenure decisions in non-doctoral or teaching-oriented departments. They caution, however, that the metric gauges quantity, not quality, and excludes outlets such as Newspaper Research Journal and Journalism Educator from from the present productivity tally.
Recommended Citation
Hickson, Mark III; Scott, Randall K.; Stacks, Don W.; and Amsbary, Jonathan H.
(1992)
"Scholarship in Mass Communication, 1915-1990: an Analysis of Active Researchers' Productivity,"
Association for Communication Administration Bulletin: Vol. 82, Article 2.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/aca/vol82/iss1/2
