Relationships between subject matter characteristics and the structure and output of university departments.

TLDR: The social structure and output of scholars at the University of Illinois were examined in terms of the characteristics of their academic subject matter as discussed by the authors, and the degree to which they were socially connected to others, their commitment to teaching, research, and service, and the number of journal articles, monographs, and technical reports that they published, and their number of dissertations that they sponsored.

Abstract: The social structure and output of scholars at the University of Illinois are examined in terms of the characteristics of their academic subject matter. On the basis of an earlier multidimensional analysis (Biglan, 1973) academic areas were clustered according to their (a) concern with a single paradigm (hard vs. soft), (b) concern with application (pure vs. applied), and (c) concern with life systems (life system vs. nonlife system). Depending on the characteristics of their area, scholars differed in (a) the degree to which they were socially connected to others, (6) their commitment to teaching, research, and service, (c) the number of journal articles, monographs, and technical reports that they published, and (d) the number of dissertations that they sponsored.