Academic careers in sociology and peer recognition

Abstract

Many researchers are seeking strategies to become salient in the eyes of others and join the club of elite scientists. Some groups are disadvantaged in this race despite their efforts. Comparing to natural sciences the structure of the coauthorship network in social sciences is less stable and collaborations are smaller and last shorter, which makes it harder to become a part of the disciplinary core. Our contribution intends to add new empirical evidence about the impact of collaborations on recognition among peers and research productivity in sociology. In our research we would like is to compare the publication strategies of the researchers occupying important positions in terms of the collaboration network and named as highly estimable scholars. We hope that our research can enlighten our understanding of whether chosen publication strategies affect your position in the community.