The most productive age of the management scholars in Taiwan

National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) of Republic of China (Taiwan) launched a program named the Columbus Program in 2017 for university professors younger than thirty-five (extended to thirty-eight one year later) to apply for research grant to explore the unknown. People are curious about how the eligible age thirty-eight was determined. To discuss whether this age is reasonable, this paper investigates the most productive age of scholars in academic institutions in Taiwan, focusing on the field of management. The productivity is represented by the number of papers published in scientific journals. Based on a sample of 4,413 management scholars, the most productive age is found to appear at forty, which is close to thirty-eight, the eligible age stipulated by NSTC. Female scholars publish twenty-three percent less of papers per person than male scholars and scholars of private institutions publish thirty-six percent less of papers than scholars of public institutions. However, their most productive ages are similar. The results also show that scholars of older generations have lower productivity and their most productive age appears later than that of younger generations. An average productivity analysis is also conducted. The results show that management scholars develop their research capability in the first twenty years of their career life, and the capability remains at a similar level until they retire.