ARE THERE SIGNIFICANT GENDER AND RACE DIFFERENCES IN PUBLISHING PRODUCTIVITY?
Although there are large variations by discipline, the majority of male and female faculty members at four-year institutions produce a dozen or fewer articles in academic or professional journals over their careers. While gender differences in average publication rates appear to have narrowed in many fields (Blackburn & Lawrence, 1996), particularly when a relatively short time frame is used for study, women are significantly less likely than men to be among the top producers of publications in their fields. This small group of highly prolific writers account for a large proportion of the literature produced in an academic field (Cole & Singer, 1991). The relative absence of the voices of women and minorities in widely cited literature is explained in part by the fact that few women and minorities are among prolific authors. Their under- representation among the prolific and over-representation among nonpublishers is the major reason for the characterization of faculty women as being l
