Relationship between Career Age and Research Productivity for Academic Dentists

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effects of aging (career age) and research performance for full-time clinical dental faculty. The 489 respondents represented a response rate of 71 3% from a 40% stratified random sample of faculty. Respondents reported a mean number of years in full-time dental education of 10.7 (range = 1 to 45, SD = 7.7) and mean number of career publications of 11.1 (range = 0 to 110, SD = 15.2). A significant positive association of career age and life-time research productivity was observed. A significant positive association of career age and mean two-year research productivity was also noted. Implications of the findings were discussed with respect to similar studies reported for other academic disciplines.

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