Academic productivity and quality - how do they change with age?

A study of the relationship between age and innovative productivity among organizational psychology researchers was conducted. The study analysed the publication records of a sample of organizational psychologists, and focused on the outcome measures of productivity (number of articles published per 2-year period) and research impact (number of times each article was cited within five years of publication). Regression and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analyses identified a trend of decreasing productivity over time, consistent with previous research. However, research impact showed an early-career peak, followed by a decline to a minimum approximately 21 years after first publication, followed by a dramatic increase over approximately the last decade of a researcher’s career.