Abstract:

The increasing global competition and efforts toward creating a knowledge society have broadened the importance of research activities in higher education. Hence, in many countries, academic publications have become the main criteria in hiring and promotion of academics. Efforts aiming to increase academics’ productivity have also been witnessed in Turkey recently. This research examines highly productive academics in Turkish higher education through selected variables. Data were collected in the Turkish stage of an international comparative research project via survey. Descriptive and inferential techniques and logistic regression were used in the data analysis. The findings indicate that the most productive group of Turkish academics produce more than a half of the whole academic publications in Turkey. Patterns were also witnessed in the distribution of highly productive academics based especially on rank and discipline. Lastly, associations were found between being in the most productive group and professional factors such as rank, discipline, and research collaboration at the domestic and international level. Recommendations were made to improve the equality in opportunities for academics in different disciplines and career stages.

Keywords: