Participation in university-based research centers: Is it helping or hurting researchers?

摘要

In general, affiliation with a university research center is considered to be an activity that can improve the research activities of scientists and academics. Yet there have only been a few studies examining whether research centers are positive institutional structures for individual researchers. Our research examines how affiliation with a research center in the United States can impact research productivity, collaboration, and careers of faculty members in the multidisciplinary field of learning sciences. This study utilizes data from a curriculum vitae (CV) analysis of 402 faculty members who are currently employed at research universities. The results indicate that, on average, the research productivity of faculty members affiliated with a research center is higher than non-center affiliated faculty members. The effects, however, disappear when controlling for factors such as years since Ph.D., gender, postdoctoral status, quality of publications, and quantity of other research outputs. Senior tenured faculty members appear to benefit greatly from affiliation with a research center, while center affiliation does not positively correlate with the productivity of junior faculty members.