Scholarship vs. bloggership

Some years ago I served on a committee at the Kennedy School charged with evaluating the quantity and quality of the School's published output. One of the exercises I remember doing is to correlate the scholarly output of individual faculty members with their op-ed and similar publications. My hypothesis was that if we were doing our job right those who wrote the most op-eds would be also the most prolific scholars. Otherwise what authority would the op-eds really have?

I will not reveal the results of that exercise, but it recently gave me an idea for a similar analysis of the economics blogosphere. The question is: what is the relationship between a blogger's popularity and his scholarly impact? (As far as I can tell we are all males strangely enough.) So I asked my assistant Dana Brudowsky to do some research.

We obtained rankings of blog popularity from Aaron Schiff's site, which are in turn based on Technorati data. We based our rankings of scholarship on Google citation data, using Publish or Perish. Publish or Perish is a software that retrieves Google Scholar citation data and computes a number of indices based on them. We used the simplest among them, namely the total number of citations to an economist's total body of work, to rank economist bloggers in terms of impact of scholarship. These citation totals range from 35,835 (in the case of Gary Becker) to a low of 3. (Yes, I am aware of all the problems with this... Believe me, that is not how we make promotion decisions at Harvard, even though we certainly look at the numbers.)

We limited our search to economists with a Ph.D. and who seem to have a university affiliation. When a blog has multiple authors, we gave each author the same blog rank (but of course different scholarship ranks based on Google citation data). Obviously, we could not include blogs that are anonymous. By the end of the day, we had identified about 100 blogging economists with footprints in Google scholar.

And the result? Going into this, my expectation was that blog popularity and scholarship would have little (or perhaps even a negative) correlation. After all, the skills of a blogger (writing quickly and well, working for short-term results, spending a lot of time reading and digesting others' work) are not necessarily those that a scholar who wants long-term impact needs to have. Plus, there is the time spent on the blog--which does mean less time for research. Remember the Acemoglu response: I am too darn busy writing research papers... And one can certainly be an excellent and popular blogger--providing stimulating commentary on others' work--without having large scholarly output or high impact.

And yet the correlation between how well one does on bloggership and on scholarship turns out to be positive and statistically highly significant. The rank correlation between the two is 0.27, and it is significant at the 99% level of confidence. Here is the scatter plot:

Wait a minute, you say, this does not look like a very strong positive relationship--and you are right. Even though it is statistically significant, the quantitative significance is not that impressive. In fact, if one excludes the top 10 scholars the correlation is no longer statistically significant at conventional levels. Here is the data for those who want to play with it, or check for (and report) errors.

One way to interpret the results is to say that high-impact scholarship appears to be a sufficient but not necessary condition for successful bloggership. Once one leaves out the very top scholars, there is very little relationship between scholarly impact and popularity as a blogger. (I should add, to cover myself against the statistics police, that these statements are conditional on having a blog.) Cyberspace creates its own pecking order. 

And now to the real puzzle that this little research project left me with: why are there (apparently) no women economics bloggers?

UPDATE: OK, I think I have overlooked two women economist bloggers who fit the criteria: Lynne Kiesling and Chiara Lombardini-Riipinen. I am sure that I have overlooked many other male ones as well (including Craig Newmark, who submitted a comment below). Craig Newmark also points to some anomalies in the Google Scholar citation data.  Some of these are readily explained. The number of papers seems inflated because Google Scholar treats different versions of each paper as a separate "publication." So a paper circulated under two working paper series counts as two papers.  On the other hand, I have no idea what "years" (which comes from Publish or Perish) is referring to.  In any case, I believe the citation data that I use is unaffected by either of these, since it is the sum of citations to individual "publications," with no overlap. 

UPDATE2: See further clarification on Google Scholar and Publish or Perish here.

Comments

[Dainius from Lithuania]

I am just starting to dig into scholarly work on blogging for my phd., but it seems there is general trend in political and filter (providing mainly links to other sites) blogs to be written by white, highly educated males living in US.

But articles finding this trend is based on 2004-2005 data.

[robertdfeinman]

Two comments:
1. "I will not reveal the results of that exercise,..."

Why not? The only conclusion to be drawn is that the results put much of the faculty in a bad light.

2. You don't explain your methodology in detail, but I've observed that what passes for "scholarly" publication in economics differs from what is expected in other fields. Specifically there is a great deal of non-refereed material published. To my mind this should not be given the same weight as work that has been properly vetted. Even refereed material seems to have problems since there seems to be some partisanship at work in various journals as to what gets accepted. Papers that go against the journal's ideology get refused.

I did some professional work on citation analysis at one time and there are many pitfalls. In highly specialized areas the number of links tend to be very small, but they are all highly relevant. In other areas people all tend to cite some key papers, but the connection is rather weak and the citations are mostly padding or acknowledging the history of the discipline.

What this all means is that counting the number of times a paper is cited doesn't tell you much about its relevance.

As to the connection to blogging, it has been my observation that the more scholarly and fact-based a blog entry is, the less traffic it generates. Blogging is the electronic version of standing on a soap box. Rhetoric and timeliness are favored more than well reasoned postings. Bloggers who can provide reassurance to their adherents are also favored. People don't like their beliefs challenged and gravitate to sites where their views are supported.

[ZH]

There is one well known female economics blogger, Megan McArdle, although she is not an academic economist with a PhD. However, there is Lynne Kiesling of Northwestern (Knowledge Problem) if you are looking for an academic. Still, two female econ bloggers is a very small percentage of econ blogs.

[Idaho_Spud]

Scholarship and informational and/or writing style for entertainment value are not one and the same.

[anonymous]

Most status rendering research in academia has nothing to do with anything that would show up in an Op-Ed piece, not to mention a blog. And I'd even say that _most_ status rendering research done by economists or Kennedy schooers has little to do with the genuine advancement of social science -- and contributes little of practical value in terms of general knowledge. Most economics involves further development of degenerate research programs, i.e. failed science. And research shows that most of it is little read or never read again after 5 years or so.

>>My hypothesis was that if we were doing our job right those who wrote the most op-eds would be also the most prolific scholars. Otherwise what authority would the op-eds really have?<<

[anonymous]

Most status rendering research in academia has nothing to do with anything that would show up in an Op-Ed piece, not to mention a blog. And I'd even say that _most_ status rendering research done by economists or Kennedy schooers has little to do with the genuine advancement of social science -- and contributes little of practical value in terms of general knowledge. Most economics involves further development of degenerate research programs, i.e. failed science. And research shows that most of it is little read or never read again after 5 years or so.

>>My hypothesis was that if we were doing our job right those who wrote the most op-eds would be also the most prolific scholars. Otherwise what authority would the op-eds really have?<<

[Craig M. Newmark]

There seem to be some gross errors in the data. (I downloaded your spreadsheet at 12:10 p.m. Eastern, 9/24.)

Two examples:

There are 14 entries in the "Years" column greater than or equal to 85 (including one, for George Borjas, at an astounding 291 years).

There are 10 authors listed as having more than 300 papers, including you, Professor Rodrik, at 820. (And how does Posner rank only fourth? I don't believe it.)

I was going to complain about being omitted--my blog, Newmark's Door, has been ranked around 44th for at least several weeks--but given these apparent errors, I'm not as upset. :-)

Craig M. Newmark

[paine]

nice
nimble number knocking

the best mad science
is done with numbers
not greek letters

[Phil]

I've always wondered whether high profile academic bloggers (this one excepted, of course) get help from their graduate students in writing their blogs, or coming up with ideas. Those higher profile academic bloggers also likely have more graduate students available to them. Plus working on a blog entry is probably a nice distraction to working on a thesis ...

[paine]

PHIL:
MAYHAPS WE SHOULD
TRY TO DETECT

is this post by the master
or merely
from the studio of dani R

[Stephen Gordon]

Huh. For some reason, you weren't able to get any information about my publications. I do have some. Really.

[Anne-Wil Harzing]

Hi,

The years field in the Publish or Perish software refers to the number of years an academic has been active (years since first publication).

This can be incorrect for at least three reasons:

1. There is more than once academic publishing under the same name and the person doing the analysis with PoP has not separated them.

2. Some references to the academic's work are incorrect (typos or other mistakes) and refer to the wrong year.

3. Google Scholar's automatic parsing mechanism has parsed the year field incorrectly and lists another number as the year.

Please note that whilst no. 3 is Google Scholar specific, problems 1 and 2 occur with fee-based databases such as Web of Science and Scopus as well.

For more information about the various metrics and possible inaccuracies, please read the extensive PoP help file.

For a comparison of Google Scholar and Web of Science, please see my white paper "Reflections on Google Scholar"

http://www.harzing.com/pop_gs.htm

[Barkley Rosser]

If one is an outlier, does this mean that one should publish less (or at least get cited less) or blog more (or better)?

[Chris Jeffords]

Given my time constraint(s), I do not have the resources to grind out what I would like to with this fairly simple data set. However, I have a few ideas which may prove meaningful in this context. First, minimize the errors in the data as pointed out in previous posts. Then create a reliable data set with accurate information relative to papers, citations, etc. and begin:

a. Isolate the cases where there is more than one author to a blog. Then, controlling for academic institution, analyze the relationship between authors of the same blog relative to papers, citations, and number of authors per paper. The quality of the papers in this case is also an issue one would have to control for as well as the number of years a given author has had available to publish. There are many implications this line of analysis could yield.
b. Do the same as in (b), but allow academic institution to vary. Compare to the results found in (b).
c. Consider each blog as an entity and combine (obtain) the data on a per blog basis rather than per author. Do some more analysis.
d. Combine (obtain) the data by academic institution. Again, do some more analysis.

That is all I can think of for now – good post.

-Chris

[Paul Turpin]

I have been making the argument (in admittedly small parochial circles) that blogging, op-eds, etc., should definitely count towards promotion and tenure, but they should count as service, as in *public* service, rather than as research. Service, alas, has little weight, especially public service, but I admire those who do it nevertheless. If for no other reason, than that they find the time for it! So it helps to be tenured, sayeth one who is not (yet).

Paul Turpin

[Andrew Leigh]

Neat exercise. Why don't you come back to the data in a year, and ask the question "do economist bloggers publish more in the period before they start blogging than the period after they start blogging?".

Incidentally, I can't help noticing that your spreadsheet has me publishing for 31 years. I think I must have done my best work at age 4.

[rüya yorumları]

thanks good post

[Successful Researcher: How to Become One]

Interesting!

[Term Paper Writing]

I found this blog really good, this is a best way to share information to increase knowledge and learning capabilities. good work

[buy dissertation online]

Blogs are so interactive where we get lots of informative on any topics nice job keep it up !!

[danial]

good blog

[quality custom essay]

People in the whole world order the written research papers and custom essay online at the essay writing services about Scholarship vs. bloggership. Students know about the effective essay writing from the paper writing services.

[term paper writing]

The good thing about your information is that it is explicit enough for students to grasp. Thanks for your efforts in spreading academic knowledge.

[essay writing]

It's always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! I'm sure you had fun writing this article. Excellent entry! I'm been looking for topics as interesting as this. Looking forward to your next post.

[term paper writing]

The good thing about your information is that it is explicit enough for students to grasp. Thanks for your efforts in spreading academic knowledge.

[essay writing]

It's always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! I'm sure you had fun writing this article. Excellent entry! I'm been looking for topics as interesting as this. Looking forward to your next post.

[term paper writing]

The good thing about your information is that it is explicit enough for students to grasp. Thanks for your efforts in spreading academic knowledge.

[thesis writing]

Extremely long but very useful and informative article. How i wish i can do all of that in a short period of time. But for sure doing those will produce results. I will try to spread your words through my blog and link it back to you. Thanks a lot for those tips.

[thesis paper]

Wonderful article, thanks for putting this together! "This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!"

[Andrew Lukas]

Very elegant topic, but still this confusion is to not an easy task to discuss.That is why we have directed to create a custom writing service to help energetic students. They can buy a term papers online that is custom and made by professional , want to buy an essay or even buy research paper. But when customers use this kind of services – an ethical question is raised: Is it ok to use these kinds of services? Is it ok to use them, and will you be punished for using them.

[thesis paper]

Wonderful article, thanks for putting this together! "This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!"

[thesis paper]

Wonderful article, thanks for putting this together! "This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!"

[Account Deleted]

grate to see informative

[online high school]

thanks for putting this together! "This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!"

[rado watches]

Why is everyone just montblanc watches willing to accept power cuts? Don't you think that patek philippe watches having continious power is your right? If people aren't going to demand rado watches 24X7 power, don't expect anything zenith watches to change. The government needs to look at other sources parmigiani watches of power generation. The only solution is more power panerai watches production. Nothing less.
http://www.watchvisa.com/montblanc-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/patek_philippe-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/rado-watches.html
http://www.watchvisa.com/tudor-watches.html

[DISSERTATION EXPRESS]

good one

[DISSERTATION EXPRESS]

good one

[edit relief]

good one

[edit relief]

wonderful job

[edit relief]

good one

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[custom essay writing]

good and full of information.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[good essays]

good and full of knowledge.

[rolex watches]

People usually say :"Seeing is believing." http://www.tt88times.com
Each attempt has a corresponding gain, in part or obvious, or vague. At least we have the kind of satisfaction After I bought this watch ,in a sense,it means a great deal to me. http://www.fashionhairfu.com

[rolex watches]

People usually say :"Seeing is believing." http://www.tt88times.com
Each attempt has a corresponding gain, in part or obvious, or vague. At least we have the kind of satisfaction After I bought this watch ,in a sense,it means a great deal to me. http://www.fashionhairfu.com

[nike shox shoes]

this is a splendid post and I would give a five out of five rating to it. Need some more posts like this to be coming out Thank you and looking for more of this kind. http://www.brandnew-shoes.com/ women's sandals to you!

[mbt shoes]

Thank you for introducing me the useful information.And .....Totally boring. can you tell me where is the red and gold colors...? I predict a very low seller....I look forward your answer.thank you!

[replica rolex paypal]

私はアメリカではないので、ブログの記事は、よく書かれて、私はとても好き読み取り、すべての単語の私は非常に理解、ほとんどまだ読んでいないが、私はあなたの資料では、知識を学ぶことを望んでまた、我々は良い友達になることを願って。ありがとうございました！ ！

[who called me]

I'd even say that _most_ status rendering research done by economists or Kennedy schooers has little to do with the genuine advancement of social science -- and contributes little of practical value in terms of general knowledge. Most economics involves further development of degenerate research programs, i.e. failed science.

[Round and Brown]

Hi thanks for this excellent blog
very interesting, good information

[Term Papers]

It's an interesting approach. I usually see ordinary views on the subject but yours it's written in a pretty special manner. Sure enough, I will revisit your web site for more information.

[http://www.mbtsandal.com]

Your passion walker fitness or weight in different ways? Is there a better option is to [url=http://www.mbtsandal.com/mbt-mwalk-c-25.html]MBT M.WALK[/url] shoes. Your shoes will improve posture, strengthen the main battle tanks for sale many different muscles and help burn more calories. But you may decide to buy a stumbling block, the price is in his shoes. Not everyone can afford sneakers.The way, we main battle tank manufacturers, direct impact on our health. If we go straight to the Health and spinal cord is still the correct position of the knee. On the contrary, if we follow the wrong attitude, we have to have some physical pain.
So I decided to go to Marseilles, [url=http://www.mbtsandal.com/]MBT Kisumu Sandals[/url], barefoot shoes clean technology. The technology for the manufacture of main battle tanks and sports shoes.
Doctors and physical therapists are so fascinated, their ultimate use and recommend these [url=http://www.mbtsandal.com/]MBT Sandals[/url] shoes, their patients.

[http://www.mbtsandal.com]

[url=http://www.mbtsandal.com/]Cheap MBT Shoes[/url] shoes coach seems unlikely as the project caught the imagination of young fashion. With their thick, curved only sensible wide straps, they look like you need something, if you wear one leg shorter than another sort.
Despite its unique Africa and the United States, [url=http://www.mbtsandal.com/mbt-tariki-shoes-mens-black-p-97.html]Cheap MBT Tariki Shoes[/url] and trainers, in the past 8 years, is considered the modern-day any solution, answer questions from the lead back to your fat ass.

[timberland kids waterproof boots]

One Sunday womens timberland boots morning, I was told that someone was waiting for me in timberland 6 boots office. The young person who answered the rectory timberland boots door said that it was "the woman who said she left all the notes." When I saw her mens timberland boots I was shocked, since I immediately recognized her from church but had no timberland boots outlet idea that it was she who wrote the notes. She was sitting in a chair in timberland roll top boots office with her hands folded in her lap. Her head was bowed and when she raised white timberland boots it to look at me, she could barely smile without pain. Her face was disfigured, and timberland classic boat skin so tight from surgical procedures that smiling or laughing was very difficult for her timberland kids waterproof boots . She had suffered terribly from treatment to remove the growths timberland shoes that had so marred her face. We chatted for a while that Sunday morning and agreed to meet for timberland womens premium boots lunch later that week. As it turned out we went to lunch several timberland boots women times, and she always wore a hat during the meal. I think that treatments of some timberland shoe company sort had caused a lot of her hair to fall out. We shared things about our lives. I told her about my women timberland shoes schooling and growing up. She told me that she had worked for timberland 6 inch years for an insurance company. She never mentioned family, and I did not ask. I have thought about her timberland mens custom often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks, class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition black timberland boots hurt her deeply. http://www.timberland6inch.com/

[lachou]

I like these articles , democratic countries formulate policies are both team and the interests of the people of power, but the undemocratic countries rarely for the interests of the people, http://www.jerseysky.com it is the sorrow of many democracy, I like the western and northern state policy.
http://www.cheapsaleing.com

[lachou]

I like these articles , democratic countries formulate policies are both team and the interests of the people of power, but the undemocratic countries rarely for the interests of the people, http://www.jerseysky.com it is the sorrow of many democracy, I like the western and northern state policy.
http://www.cheapsaleing.com
http://www.nikeairmaxshoe.ocm

[nakedcelebs]

http://milf-pussy.50milfs.com/
Many have tried and failed to stimulate isomeric isotopes into emitting high energy photons enough to serve as a gain medium and produce a coherent gamma ray beam that might serve as a laser for purposes civil and military. Princeton's Richard Wheeler surfaced the idea of matter-antimatter annihilation in positronium serving this purpose decades ago, but only now have electron-positron molecules been observed to condense into quantum states of technological use in applications as diverse as space propulsion and medicine.
Spin exchange quenching of molecular species containing antimatter may lead to stable Bose-Einstein condensates of materials like Dipositronium, making possible stored energy densities vastly higher than today's, and coherent emission at wavelengths short enough to image -- and 'optically' pump-- nuclear quantum states, yielding advances comparable to those stemming from the discovery of x-rays or nuclear magnetic resonance
http://www-hairypussy.com/
http://nakedcelebscity.com/

[reverse phone detective]

To my mind this should not be given the same weight as work that has been properly vetted. Even refereed material seems to have problems since there seems to be some partisanship at work in various journals as to what gets accepted. Papers that go against the journal's ideology get refused.

[jordan shoes]

Thanks for sharing your article. I really enjoyed it. I put a link to my site to here so other people can read it. Came across your blog when I was searching bing I have found the bit of info that
I found to be quite useful.

[authentic jordans]

I think this is a great post. One thing that I find the most helpful is number five. Sometimes when I write, I just let the flow of the words and information come out so much that I loose the purpose. It’s only after editing when I realize what I’ve done. There’s defiantly a lot of great tips here I’m going to try to be more aware of.

[jordan shoes]

It's good to see this information in your post, i was looking the same but there was not any proper resource, than now i have the link which i was looking for my research.

[weddingdresses]

The first stage Wedding Dresses of spring wedding will give you so many things to plan and organize. Taking some time first to think and jot down some initial wedding ideas or Evening Gowns themes is really important before referring to any wedding vendors or Evening Dresses
venues. In this way, you will be able to easily conceptualize the perfect touches Quinceanera Dresses for your spring wedding day.As we all know, spring is the mark of time of birth and renewal. Having your wedding in this beautiful season can bestow a marriage life full of excitement and adventure.

[MBA Dissertation Topics]

Despite the bulk of information online we often fail to get the specific information which is needed this post is good & contains relevant information that I was in quest of .I appreciate your efforts in preparing this post.

[Art essays]

Nice article, i appreciate for putting this together! "This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!".....

[pandora]

great tips for me, i should share with my friends

[Bicycle Trailers]

I had been browsing on google for blogs about exercise and cycling when this post showed up in the results. Although not actually what I was looking for it was actually worth the read and for that I would give it four stars.

[Bicycle Trailers]

I had been browsing on google for blogs about exercise and cycling when this post showed up in the results. Although not actually what I was looking for it was actually worth the read and for that I would give it four stars.

[Essay services]

It is really hard to concentrate on the questions you are being asked when your heart is still racing from the parking lot dash, there are rivulets of perspiration running down your face and you have to go to the bathroom but didn't have time.

[Essay Services]

I found your site via Google and I am glad I did, The above information is really valuable and great., Your site is a great path of Information, Please keep more posting like this,

[Account Deleted]

I would like to say this is an excellent blog that I have ever come across and I think Scholarship is rather better then bloggership.

Regards!
Term papers

[Account Deleted]

Scholarship vs. bloggership, I think Scholarship is the better one from them because it can give you support in your studies and which is a very good thing to get.

Writing Paper

[Account Deleted]

congrats!hope more to come.

keep it up

[Account Deleted]

raf

Thanks for article.

[Ning Asics]

and, in a reasonable manner, as far as possible to avoid the "invisible hand" of damage. So, Adam Smith "discovery" - "invisible hand", if he is a great contribution on the society and economy, people also should not take the economic well-being of society pinned on the "invisible hand"
http://www.mbt-usa.com/
MBT

[Zach Fox]

Interesting post! Here's an alternative to a GED online.

http://www.freeonlineged.org