Illinois State Ranks 14th on New Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index

Date: 1/22/07
Contact: Kathy Beal

A new national ranking for scholarly productivity has ranked Illinois State University 14th among Small Research Universities.

The inaugural Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, produced by Academic Analytics, rates faculty members' scholarly output at nearly 7,300 doctoral programs around the country by examining faculty's number of book and journal articles and journal citations, awards, grants and honors. Academic Analytics is a company that provides data collection and reporting for the field of higher education. The company started with a collaboration between faculty and researchers at Stony Brook University and Educational Directories Unlimited, Inc.

Illinois State is in good company in the Small Research Universities category, with institutions such as Bryn Mawr, DePaul University, Rutgers University and the College of William and Mary included in that category.

Vice President and Provost John Presley said the 14th place ranking shows just how strong Illinois State faculty are in terms of both teaching and research. "Illinois State faculty earned this recognition through their dedication to research and scholarship, the backbone of strong graduate programs," said Presley said. "Our senior faculty are mentors to both graduate students and new professors. The recognition will further our efforts to recruit the best and brightest faculty, ones who desire to work at an institution that values both teaching and scholarship."

The index, based on 2005 data, uses a database that compiles journal publication and citation data from more than 15,000 journals and counts books using Amazon.com, whose database matches the Library of Congress catalog. The index includes grant data from federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and includes honors and awards from organizations such as those granting Nobel Prizes and MacArthur fellowships.

Academic Analytics says the new index is the "first completely objective measure of productivity."