Posted: April 30, 2019
Recent research tries to untangle the relationship between place of work, intitution of PhD, and potential for future faculty success. "What matters more to a scientist's career success: where they currently work, or where they got their Ph.D.? It's a question a team of researchers teases apart in a new paper published in PNAS. Their analysis calls into question a common assumption underlying academia: that a researcher's productivity reflects their scientific skill, which is reflected in the prestige of their doctoral training."
"The authors identify several possible mechanisms driving the increased productivity of faculty at more prestigious institutions. Selection criteria in hiring, expectations for high productivity once hired, and selective retention of productive faculty were all considered. "We only find weak evidence for each," says Way. However, the prestige of the current work environment had a strong effect on productivity."
Add this to the growing knowledge about criteria and assumptions in hiring new colleagues and in setting up a research environment that supports their success.
Brief digest: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-pedigree-destiny-scholarly-success.html
Original article: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/04/24/1817431116
