IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i17p7739-d1472277.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Qualitative Study on the Relationship between Faculty Mobility and Scientific Impact: Toward the Sustainable Development of Higher Education

Author

Listed:
  • Jun Zhang

    (Graduate School of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, China)

  • Xiaoyan Su

    (School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, China)

  • Yifei Wang

    (Graduate School of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, China)

Abstract

Faculty mobility is one of the most important research issues in the field of higher education. Reasonable faculty mobility can actively promote the fair, coordinated, balanced, healthy, and sustainable development of higher education. Scientific impact is the best proof of faculty members’ research abilities and is often represented by the quality of their articles. In particular, the gradual increase in citations of high-quality papers is undoubtedly an important reflection of healthy development in the academic field. This paper aims to explore the influence of faculty mobility on scientific impact, while comparative analysis is used to investigate whether there are disciplinary differences in the relationship between faculty mobility and scientific impact. Four major disciplines—sociology, mathematics, mechanical engineering, and philosophy—are selected as the scope of this study. Articles in these four major disciplines from 2000 to 2020 are obtained from the Web of Science, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test are used to analyze the collected data. The results indicate the following: (1) faculty mobility has increased, with differences across disciplines; (2) mobility leads to a decrease in the number of citations, which decreases significantly with increased mobility frequency; and (3) the impact of mobility has disciplinary differences, with a relatively obvious decrease in mechanical engineering.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun Zhang & Xiaoyan Su & Yifei Wang, 2024. "A Qualitative Study on the Relationship between Faculty Mobility and Scientific Impact: Toward the Sustainable Development of Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7739-:d:1472277
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7739/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7739/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hendrik P. Dalen, 2021. "How the publish-or-perish principle divides a science: the case of economists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1675-1694, February.
    2. van Dalen, Hendrik Peter, 2021. "How the publish-or-perish principle divides a science: The case of economists," Other publications TiSEM a6a5a855-bb5a-4d52-a841-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Jingyi Zhao & Chunli Wei & Jiang Li, 2023. "Is the research performance of Chinese returnees better than that of their local counterparts?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(5), pages 3091-3105, May.
    4. João M. Santos & Hugo Horta & Huan Li, 2022. "Are the strategic research agendas of researchers in the social sciences determinants of research productivity?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(7), pages 3719-3747, July.
    5. Jonathan Brogaard & Joseph Engelberg & Edward Van Wesep, 2018. "Do Economists Swing for the Fences after Tenure?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(1), pages 179-194, Winter.
    6. Matt Clancy & Dan Correa & Jordan Dworkin & Paul Niehaus & Caleb Watney & Heidi Williams, 2023. "Want to speed up scientific progress? First understand how science policy works," Nature, Nature, vol. 620(7975), pages 724-726, August.
    7. Rosalind S. Hunter & Andrew J. Oswald & Bruce G. Charlton, 2009. "The Elite Brain Drain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(538), pages 231-251, June.
    8. Verginer, Luca & Riccaboni, Massimo, 2021. "Talent goes to global cities: The world network of scientists’ mobility," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1).
    9. Meredith T Niles & Lesley A Schimanski & Erin C McKiernan & Juan Pablo Alperin, 2020. "Why we publish where we do: Faculty publishing values and their relationship to review, promotion and tenure expectations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, March.
    10. Chang, Ying-Han & Huang, Mu-Hsuan, 2023. "Analysis of factors affecting scientific migration move and distance by academic age, migrant type, and country: Migrant researchers in the field of business and management," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1).
    11. Vadim N. Gureyev & Nikolay A. Mazov & Denis V. Kosyakov & Andrey E. Guskov, 2020. "Review and analysis of publications on scientific mobility: assessment of influence, motivation, and trends," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(2), pages 1599-1630, August.
    12. João M. Santos & Hugo Horta & Huan Li, 2022. "Correction to: Are the strategic research agendas of researchers in the social sciences determinants of research productivity?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(7), pages 3749-3749, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Orhan, Mehmet A. & van Rossenberg, Yvonne & Bal, P. Matthijs, 2024. "Authorship inequality and elite dominance in management and organizational research: A review of six decades," OSF Preprints tzx92, Center for Open Science.
    2. Justus Haucap & Nima Moshgbar & W. Benedikt Schmal, 2021. "The impact of the German 'DEAL' on competition in the academic publishing market," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(8), pages 2027-2049, December.
    3. Hendrik P. Dalen, 2021. "How the publish-or-perish principle divides a science: the case of economists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1675-1694, February.
    4. W. Benedikt Schmal, 2024. "Academic Knowledge: Does it Reflect the Combinatorial Growth of Technology?," Papers 2409.20282, arXiv.org.
    5. van Dalen, Hendrik Peter, 2020. "How the Publish-or-Perish Principle Divides a Science : The Case of Academic Economists," Other publications TiSEM 6fbb6b92-0e06-4271-b6e7-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. van Dalen, Hendrik Peter, 2021. "How the publish-or-perish principle divides a science: The case of economists," Other publications TiSEM a6a5a855-bb5a-4d52-a841-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Nicolas Gratiot & Jérémie Klein & Marceau Challet & Olivier Dangles & Serge Janicot & Miriam Candelas & Géraldine Sarret & Géremy Panthou & Benoît Hingray & Nicolas Champollion & Julien Montillaud & P, 2023. "A transition support system to build decarbonization scenarios in the academic community," Post-Print hal-04126329, HAL.
    8. Emeka Ndaguba & Lochner Marais, 2024. "A scientometric analysis of mine closure research," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 27787-27803, November.
    9. Carlo Galli & Roberto Sala & Maria Teresa Colangelo & Stefano Guizzardi, 2022. "Tamquam alter idem: formal similarities in a subset of reports on anti-inflammatory compounds in the years 2008–2019," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(7), pages 3879-3910, July.
    10. Han, Fang & Zhang, Ruhao & Zhang, Shengtai & Yuan, Junpeng, 2024. "International mobility characteristics, effects of, and effects on elite scientists," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1).
    11. Katchanov, Yurij L. & Markova, Yulia V. & Shmatko, Natalia A., 2023. "Empirical demonstration of the Matthew effect in scientific research careers," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4).
    12. J. M. Santos & H. Horta & H. Luna, 2022. "The relationship between academics’ strategic research agendas and their preferences for basic research, applied research, or experimental development," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(7), pages 4191-4225, July.
    13. Sun, Zhuanlan & Liu, Sheng & Li, Yiwei & Ma, Chao, 2023. "Expedited editorial decision in COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1).
    14. Chunhai Gao & Sabika Khalid & NGUYEN Van Thang & Endale Tadesse, 2023. "Comparing Apples With Apples: Women Faculty Research Productivity in Vietnamese Higher Education," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, August.
    15. Yitong Chen & Keye Wu & Yue Li & Jianjun Sun, 2023. "Impacts of inter-institutional mobility on scientific performance from research capital and social capital perspectives," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(6), pages 3473-3506, June.
    16. Aslıhan Sezgin & Keziban Orbay & Metin Orbay, 2022. "Educational Research Review From Diverse Perspectives: A Bibliometric Analysis of Web of Science (2011–2020)," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, December.
    17. Matteo Migheli & Giovanni B. Ramello, 2021. "The unbearable lightness of scientometric indices," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(8), pages 1933-1944, December.
    18. Uwe Cantner & Martin Kalthaus & Matthias Menter & Pierre Mohnen, 2023. "Global knowledge flows: characteristics, determinants, and impacts," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 32(5), pages 1063-1076.
    19. Lawson, Cornelia & Geuna, Aldo & Ana Fernández-Zubieta & Toselli, Manuel & Kataishi, Rodrigo, 2015. "International Careers of Researchers in Biomedical Sciences: A Comparison of the US and the UK," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201514, University of Turin.
    20. John Gibson & David McKenzie, 2012. "The Economic Consequences of ‘Brain Drain’ of the Best and Brightest: Microeconomic Evidence from Five Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(560), pages 339-375, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7739-:d:1472277. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.