Participation in university-based research centers: Is it helping or hurting researchers?

In general, affiliation with a university research center is considered to be an activity that can improve the research activities of scientists and academics. Yet there have only been a few studies examining whether research centers are positive institutional structures for individual researchers. Our research examines how affiliation with a research center in the United States can impact research productivity, collaboration, and careers of faculty members in the multidisciplinary field of learning sciences. This study utilizes data from a curriculum vitae (CV) analysis of 402 faculty members who are currently employed at research universities. The results indicate that, on average, the research productivity of faculty members affiliated with a research center is higher than non-center affiliated faculty members. The effects, however, disappear when controlling for factors such as years since Ph.D., gender, post-doctoral status, quality of publications, and quantity of other research outputs. Senior tenured faculty members appear to benefit greatly from affiliation with a research center, while center affiliation does not positively correlate with the productivity of junior faculty members.