Research Productivity in Top-Ranked Schools in Psychology and Social Work: Does Having a Research Culture Matter?

The h-index for all social work and psychology tenured or tenure-track faculty in the top 25 social work programs and psychology departments as ranked by U.S. News and World Report in 2012 and 2013, respectively, were obtained, permitting comparison of the scholarly influence between members (N = 1,939) of the two fields. This involved N = 970 social work faculty and N = 969 psychology faculty. The average h-index for social work and psychology faculty were 6.62 and 15.67, respectively. This more rigorously designed controlled-comparative study contraindicates prior research that showed social work faculty to be relatively equal to psychology, in terms of its scholarly influence. Results are discussed in terms of discipline-specific research pedagogy and practice in psychology.