Faculty research productivity 1972-1988: Development and application of constant units of measure

The economic concept of real or constant units of measure is utilized to assess the rate of inflation/deflation of opportunity for publication between 1972 and 1988 for the disciplines of biology, psychology, and English. Data for the study came from (1)Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory; (2)Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature; (3)American Universities and Colleges; (4) 570 journal issues across the three disciplines; and (5) national surveys of faculty conducted in 1972, 1980, and 1988. Based on changes over time in the amount of space in which faculty can publish their research and the number of individuals competing for that space, indexes are developed that convert 1988 publication counts into 1972 equivalents. Results indicate inflation rates of 103, 85, and -45 percent for biology, psychology, and English, respectively, between 1972 and 1988. Due to these rates, faculty had to produce 14.65, 5.05, and 1.18 articles, respectively, in the two years prior to 1988 to have been as productive in real articles as they were in the two years prior to 1972.