An Examination of the Productivity of Social Work Doctoral Students

Abstract

This study examined social work doctoral student productivity related to the Group for Doctoral Education in Social Work's (GADE) aspirational goals regarding publication, author order, presentations, and teaching by examining doctoral student CVs of students graduating from PhD Programs in the top 39 Schools of Social Work in the United States. On average, students exceeded GADE's publication goals, with an average of 4.0 (median) peer-reviewed articles, and met its sole or first-authored article goal, with an average of 1.0 (median). Students far exceeded GADE’s aspirational presentation goal of two or three presentations, averaging 9.5 (median) presentations at peer-reviewed conferences. Finally, students exceeded GADE’s aspirational goal of teaching at least one independent section, averaging 2.0 (median) independent sections taught. There were no differences productivity based on the ranking of the school in which they were studying.