Inbreds and non-inbreds among Russian academics: Short-term similarity and long-term differences in productivity

This paper studies the publication productivity of inbreds and non-inbreds among Russian academics. Existing literature provides ambiguous results on the relationship between inbred status and productivity. This may be explained by the use of different indicators for measuring publication productivity. We use data, which include indicators of both current publication productivity (at a certain point of time) and cumulative productivity (throughout the career) to identify whether inbreds and non-inbreds differ in their productivity. We did not find any difference in current publication productivity of inbreds and non-inbreds. We found, however, a difference in their cumulative publication productivity: non-inbreds are being more productive on an individual level throughout their careers. Although the conclusions are based on the Russian data, the analysis provides an explanation for existing contradictory results on the relationship between academic inbreeding and productivity in general.