Impact of Scholarly Publications and the Selected Socio-Demographic Factors

Abstract

In a dynamically developing scientific environment, there is a tendency toward creating mechanisms that objectively evaluate the output of individual scientific units. Selected indicators can be applied, inter alia, to work out specific criteria for awarding funds for scientific research activities. One of the most important indicators used is the impact of researchers’ publications, which today determines the overall outcome of the evaluation of a research unit. The key question in this context is whether any socio-demographic factors are correlated with the impact of the scholarship work of individual researchers and, if yes, what those indicators are, specifically. The purpose of this study was to determine the existence and, if confirmed, the nature of correlation between the impact of researchers’ publications and selected socio-demographic factors such as: age, gender and family status. The study sample included all the academic employees of the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University, in Toruń (Poland). The results demonstrated that the socio-demographic factors considered showed little correlation with publications’ impactfulness as measured in the Polish evaluation system of research units.