Abstract
Many governments have placed priority on excellence in higher education as
part of their policy agendas. Processes for recruitment and career advancement in universities
thus have a critical role. The efficiency of faculty selection processes can be
evaluated by comparing the subsequent performance of competition winners against that of
the losers and the pre-existing staff of equal academic rank. Our study presents an
empirical analysis concerning the recruitment procedures for associate professors in the
Italian university system. The results of a bibliometric analysis of the hard science areas
reveal that new associate professors are on average more productive than the incumbents.
However a number of crucial concerns emerge, in particular concerning occurrence of nonwinner
candidates that are more productive than the winners over the subsequent triennium,
and cases of winners that are completely unproductive. Beyond the implications for
the Italian case, the analysis offers considerations for all decision-makers regarding the ex
post evaluation of the efficiency of the recruitment process and the desirability of providing
selection committees with bibliometric indicators in support of evaluation (i.e. informed
peer review).
Original language | English |
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Journal | Scientometrics |
Volume | 98 |
Issue number | 2 |
Pages (from-to) | 891-907 |
ISSN | 0138-9130 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Research evaluation
- Recruitment
- Career advancement
- Bibliometrics
- Universities
- Italy