UW Business School faculty ranks no. 1 in productivity index

According to a new index of research productivity, the UW Business School has the nation’s most prolific faculty in the area of business administration. The Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, released in January, also rated the School’s marketing faculty eighth most productive nationally.

The index was created by Academic Analytics, a company owned partially by the State University of New York at Stony Brook. For the 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, Academic Analytics measured the output of faculty at 7,294 doctoral programs in 104 disciplines at 354 institutions over the period from 2001 to 2005.

Academic Analytics took into account the number of book and journal articles published by each faculty, as well as journal citations, awards, honors and grants received. It then rated universities overall and by individual academic disciplines based on per-faculty-member scholarly output.

The resulting index, the company claims, is the only faculty ranking that relies solely on objective data rather than reputation.

By the numbers, the UW Business School scored very well. In the business administration ranking, the UW Business School tied for the top spot nationally with the University of Illinois at Chicago. The remaining top ten, in descending order, are Washington University, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, Indiana University, the University of Pittsburgh, Saint Louis University and the University of Rochester.

The marketing ranking was topped by the University of Pennsylvania, followed by Northwestern University, Duke University, Michigan State University, Florida State University, New York University, Ohio State University, the University of Washington, Arizona State University and Emory University.

The methodology of this new index has created some controversy, especially pertaining to the inclusion of some generally lesser-known schools alongside – and sometimes ahead of – the nation’s elite. But Academic Analytics officials contend that their data-driven index may allow high-performing programs to be recognized before their reputations have caught up.

“It is gratifying to see our faculty recognized for its excellent and important research production," said James Jiambalvo, dean of the UW Business School. “This new index demonstrates what we have always known: our Business School faculty is among the finest in the nation at both creating knowledge and imparting it to our students, who will be tomorrow’s leaders."

A separate research ranking published by the University of Texas at Dallas placed the UW Business School faculty 21st among its peers in North America, based on publications in the leading 24 business journals during the period from 2002-06.