Reputation, research and reality: The publication records of UK Departments of Politics, 1978–1984

Abstract

This article contributes some data on the relative research performance of university departments, a topic of growing interest. It analyses the total published andper capita publication rates of 52 UK Politics Departments from 1978 to 1984. The main findings are that 1) departmentalper capita publication rates vary enormously: 2) a department's relative productivity is strongly correlated across all types of publication; 3) a few departments are substantially more productive then the rest; 4) among highly productive departments, one can usefully distinguish between those with ‘collective’ and those with ‘individual’ strength 5) a department's productivity is not related to its size. Various rankings are compiled and compared with theTHES peer review and the UGC's classification of research quality.