Research Career Paths Among Political Scientists in Teaching Institutions

Abstract

ABSTRACTConsiderable work assesses research productivity in political science. Yet, the latter work has not explicated how research careers can differ across time and individuals and neither has it considered such careers in teaching institutions. This article presents an empirically validated typology for research career paths for political scientists who began their career in a teaching institution. The typology demonstrates that many scholars follow paths different from the most conventional expectations, and research “success” by measures of publications and citations is associated with only some of those paths. Thus, existing research on aggregate publications and citations likely addresses only a subset of the career paths described here. Understanding research activities in our profession requires accounting for various career paths, their motivations, and their place in our research community.