“Senior scholars are blamed using anecdotal evidence for some things that are as extreme as reducing national scientific advancement, for instance, simply by failing to produce research at the same levels as their colleagues,” said study co-author Anthony Olejniczak, director of research at Academic Analytics, which tracks research metrics for colleges and universities. “I hope that our study adds something of a quantitative framework to address that and shows that senior scholars do in fact contribute to the research program.”
Underscoring the study’s findings about publication type and quantity, Olejniczak said that how professors are publishing may shift over their career arc, “but there isn't a peak and decline in research productivity.”