Rank Advancement in Academic Careers: Sex Differences and the Effects of Productivity

TLDR

Rank advancement is crucial for academic careers and serves as a visible case study for stratification in science, sparking debate over universalistic promotion factors. The study investigates why female scientists advance more slowly and rarely reach full professor, and whether promotion depends more on publication volume than quality. Analysis shows that publication quantity predicts rank advancement far better than quality, women are less likely to be promoted, with half of the sex gap explained by influencing variables and the rest by promotion timing and prestige effects.

Abstract

Advancement in rank is critically important to the career of an academic scientist, and the highly visible nature of the event makes it idealfor studying stratification in science. Concern with universalistic factors in promotion has prompted debates over two issues. First, why do female scientists advance more slowly than male scientists, and why do so few reach the rank offull professor? Second, is promotion driven by the sheer volume of published work as opposed to its quality? Event history analyses clearly indicate that quantity of publications is far more important than various measures of quality of publications in predicting rank advancement; and women are less likely to be promoted than men. About one-half of this sex difference is attributable to differences in levels of variables affecting promotion. Remaining differences are a result of differences in expected timing of promotion to associate professor and to the negative effects of department prestige on promotion to full professor for women.