Don't Publish, Don't Perish: Academic Economists and their unhastened Logic of Knowledge Production


Francois Lachapelle, University of British Columbia - Okanagan

In the realm of twentieth-century academic economics, a peculiar phenomenon emerges, as Randall Collins (1988: 295) aptly observed, marking it as not just an outlier in social sciences, but a curious entity in the intellectual universe. My research delves into this peculiarity, situated at the nexus of knowledge production and labor market dynamics within the discipline of economics, probing what some may dismiss as an "epistemic curiosity." The crux of my investigation is a startling fact: a significant majority (70%) of assistant professor of economics hires in Canada’s leading research-intensive universities between 2007 and 2017 embarked on their professorial journey devoid of any peer-reviewed publications. This scenario starkly contrasts with other social sciences, where epistemic a-productivism is far less prevalent, as evidenced by significantly lower percentages in disciplines like anthropology, political science, sociology, and psychology. This pattern in economics aligns with the findings of Waaijer, Sugimoto, and Larivière (2016), who documented a persistent low publishing rate among doctoral economists across multiple decades, notably lower than in disciplines like psychology, genetics, astrophysics, and chemistry. While other fields have witnessed a shift in the average year of first publication from post- to pre-graduation, economics has remained static, with first publications typically emerging two years post-doctorate. The broader academic landscape has experienced what can be termed "epistemic inflation," where the average number of publications by early-career researchers has surged since the 20th century, a trend particularly pronounced post-1980. This growth in scientific output, following an exponential trajectory, has been influenced by factors such as the increasing number of scientists and government investment in research. Notably, not all countries or disciplines have been equal participants in this trend, as highlighted by extensive bibliometric studies. My paper aims to elucidate the "dont publish, dont perish" pattern in economics vis-à-vis other disciplines. Utilizing data on peer-reviewed publications at the time of first academic appointments of practitioners across 25 disciplines in North American research-intensive universities, the goal is to contrast the publishing behaviors of economics doctorates with their counterparts in other fields. This exploration is structured around three primary objectives: Anomaly Exploration: Building on previous work and my preliminary analysis, I investigate the extent to which economics stands as an anomaly in terms of knowledge production practices among doctoral students. Are other disciplines mirroring this trend of welcoming unpublished scholars into their professorial ranks? Historical Context of Publishing Patterns: By examining the timing of first hires from the late 1970s to the present, I aim to explore the "productivist thesis." This involves a comparative analysis of publication patterns over time across disciplines, adding historical depth to the understanding of why doctoral economists persist in non-publishing even as other fields ramp up knowledge production. External Labor Market Demand Hypothesis: A regression model will test this hypothesis, comparing the average number of peer-reviewed publications by the time of first appointments across disciplines. The inclusion of applied sciences, with their established primary labor market outside academia, is crucial. This facet seeks to determine if the demand for market-ready skills in external professional fields influences doctoral program structures and identity-building processes, possibly shedding light on economics unique publishing pattern. In conclusion, this paper does not merely scrutinize a publishing anomaly in economics; it endeavors to uncover the underlying forces shaping the identity and knowledge production processes within this unique academic discipline.

This paper will be presented at the following session: