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A new national assessment of faculty scholarly productivity ranks ASU’s doctoral programs in the top 10 U.S. research universities in three disciplines: geosciences, marketing, and kinesiology and exercise science.

ASU’s geosciences was ranked fifth in the new Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, produced by Academic Analytics. The university’s marketing department was ranked No. 9, as was kinesiology and exercise science.

The Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index recently was released as a new quantitative method for ranking doctoral programs at U.S. research universities based on a set of statistical algorithms. The index measures the annual productivity of faculty based on a number of factors, including publications (books and journal articles), citations of journal publications, federal research funding, and awards and honors.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on this new measurement in its Jan. 12 edition. One of the headlines read: “A controversial new index offers another way to rank doctoral programs.” Some college officials were quoted praising the new index with the hope that it would become an annual assessment tool, while others complained that “the data are flawed.”

According to Academic Analytics, the 2005 index is based on data gathered from nearly 200,000 faculty members at 354 institutions, representing 118 academic disciplines in nearly 7,300 doctoral programs. It derives its information from Scopus, a product of academic publisher Elsevier, which is marketed as the largest abstract and citation database of research literature and quality Web sources.

“It’s probably best to view this assessment as an alternative, but not necessarily more accurate, approach to the old and difficult problem of quantifying the quality of doctoral programs,” says Kip Hodges, director of ASU’s new School of Earth and Space Exploration. “It’s gratifying that the great impact of research being done by earth and planetary science faculty at ASU has been captured in efforts by Academic Analytics to determine the best geoscience doctoral programs in the United States.

“But even as we celebrate our high ranking, we are mindful that the statistics that informed this analysis were collected before the new School of Earth and Space Exploration was created. With strong support from the ASU administration and other academic units, we are building a revolutionary program in earth and space science and engineering. A top-five ranking in geosciences is only the beginning.”

Lawrence Mandarino, chair of kinesiology and director of ASU’s Center for Metabolic Biology, says of the No. 9 ranking for kinesiology and exercise science: “We’re gratified to learn that the faculty of the department of kinesiology have been recognized as having a Ph.D. program that is ranked in the top 10 in the United States . This ranking is based on the high research productivity of our faculty, and is a testament to their hard work.

“We believe this ranking will help us recruit more of the top Ph.D. students in the world and is an important validation of the transition of kinesiology to a discipline within biomedical sciences.”

The performance of ASU’s marketing faculty and doctoral program also was ranked No 9.

“Our culture in the department of marketing in the W. P. Carey School of Business focuses on achieving and sustaining excellence in both teaching and scholarship,” says Michael Mokwa, chair of the department and academic director for MBA Sports Business. “We believe they go hand in hand. We have consistently hired and rewarded faculty who are dedicated teachers and truly exceptional researchers.

“Our doctoral students work closely with the faculty, and often our work is supported by business partners. Unrelentingly, we emphasize research that challenges and leads both thought and practice in our field and is always at the cutting edge of the social and behavioral sciences. It does not surprise me to see this ranking.”

Academic Analytics is a collaboration between faculty and researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Educational Directories Unlimited.

Carol Hughes, carol.hughes@asu.edu

(480) 965-6375

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