An empirical analysis on the relationship between publications and academic genealogy

Author(s)

Mugnaini, Rogerio ; Damaceno, Rafael J. P. ; Mena-Chalco, Jesus P. ; Catalano, G ; Daraio, C ; Gregori, M ; Moed, HF ; Ruocco, G

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: 17TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SCIENTOMETRICS & INFORMETRICS (ISSI2019), VOL II; v. N/A, p. 11-pg., 2019-01-01.

Abstract

In the belief that collaboration between advisor and students is a means of following a scientific path for the discovery of new knowledge, this study examines the relationship between bibliometric indicators for publications and academic genealogy. In this study, we analysed the curricular information of more than 40,000 PhD advisors, registered in a huge Curriculum Vitae dataset. This involved displaying different patterns of academic fecundity and publications, concerning several areas and mentoring ages. It was found that productivity in co-authorship with academic sons is an established practice in the hard sciences, while in the soft sciences it is only a reality for researchers until the 25 years (mentoring age). In addition, in the case of the output produced without the participation of the students, there was a constant distribution among the mentoring age groups (with the exception of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering, where there was a gradual decline over the period). Finally, there was a number of advisors that performed best in fecundity but worst in production, which suggests that the involvement in mentoring impairs the advisor's capacity for research. It can be concluded that a separate analysis of the researchers' output is needed, since student participation may be important for an assessment of scholarly performance. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/00255-6 - Scientific assessment in Brazil: study of scientific communication in scientific areas
• Grantee: Rogerio Mugnaini
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants