Tripodi Giorgio, Zheng Xiang, Qian Yifan, Murray Dakota, Jones Benjamin F, Ni Chaoqun, Wang Dashun
Center for Science of Science and Innovation, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208.
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jul 29;122(30):e2500322122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2500322122. Epub 2025 Jul 22.
Tenure is a cornerstone of the US academic system, yet its relationship to faculty research trajectories remains poorly understood. Conceptually, tenure systems may act as a selection mechanism, screening in high-output researchers; a dynamic incentive mechanism, encouraging high output prior to tenure but low output after tenure; and a creative search mechanism, encouraging tenured individuals to undertake high-risk work. Here, we integrate data from seven different sources to trace US tenure-line faculty and their research outputs at a remarkable scale and scope, covering over 12,000 researchers across 15 disciplines. Our analysis reveals that faculty publication rates typically increase sharply during the tenure track and peak just before obtaining tenure. Post-tenure trends, however, vary across disciplines: In lab-based fields, such as biology and chemistry, research output typically remains high post-tenure, whereas in non-lab-based fields, such as mathematics and sociology, research output typically declines substantially post-tenure. Turning to creative search, faculty increasingly produce novel, high-risk research after securing tenure. However, this shift toward novelty and risk-taking comes with a decline in impact, with post-tenure research yielding fewer highly cited papers. Comparing outcomes across common career ages but different tenure years or comparing research trajectories in tenure-based and non-tenure-based research settings underscores that breaks in the research trajectories are sharply tied to the individual's tenure year. Overall, these findings provide an empirical basis for understanding the tenure system, individual research trajectories, and the shape of scientific output.
终身教职是美国学术体系的基石，但其与教师研究轨迹之间的关系仍鲜为人知。从概念上讲，终身教职制度可能充当一种选拔机制，筛选出高产研究人员；一种动态激励机制，鼓励在获得终身教职之前高产而在获得之后低产；以及一种创新探索机制，鼓励获得终身教职的人员从事高风险工作。在此，我们整合来自七个不同来源的数据，以大规模、广范围地追踪美国终身教职系列教师及其研究产出，涵盖15个学科的12000多名研究人员。我们的分析表明，教师的发表率在终身教职轨道期间通常会急剧上升，并在获得终身教职前夕达到峰值。然而，获得终身教职后的趋势因学科而异：在基于实验室的领域，如生物学和化学，获得终身教职后的研究产出通常仍然很高，而在非基于实验室的领域，如数学和社会学，获得终身教职后的研究产出通常会大幅下降。转向创新探索，教师在获得终身教职后越来越多地开展新颖、高风险的研究。然而，这种向新颖性和冒险精神的转变伴随着影响力的下降，获得终身教职后的研究产生的高被引论文较少。比较不同职业年龄但不同终身教职年份的结果，或者比较基于终身教职和非基于终身教职的研究环境中的研究轨迹，凸显出研究轨迹的中断与个人的终身教职年份紧密相关。总体而言，这些发现为理解终身教职制度、个人研究轨迹以及科学产出的形态提供了实证依据。
