by Skip Anderson

The Vanderbilt Department of Sociology was recently ranked third highest in the United States in terms of faculty productivity over a three-year period by a leading publication.

Footnotes, the official newsletter of the American Sociological Association, ranked productivity based upon the number of publications per full-time departmental faculty members in the three flagship journals of sociology, the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review and Social Forces.

"We are delighted that our scholarly contributions to a wide range of fields within sociology and in neighboring social sciences have been recognized by our profession," said Dan Cornfield, professor of sociology and chair of the department.

When department size was not considered, the Vanderbilt sociology department ranked 11th highest in the nation in terms of number of publications in the top three sociology journals. The top 10 sociology departments in this ranking tend to be large departments (publication rankings in parentheses): Ohio State University (1), Indiana University (2) and University of Washington (10). The rankings were calculated and reported by Keely S. Jones et al in the July/August 2000 issue of Footnotes.

The study strengthens the findings reported in the February 2000 issue of Footnotes, in which different authors ranked Vanderbilt's Department of Sociology as fifth highest in the nation in terms of faculty productivity. The two-position increase in under six months is due to methodological problems stemming from faculty mobility and ecological fallacies in the initial rankings.

"The college is fortunate to have this strong research department that also is known for its outstanding teaching," said John H. Venable, dean of the College of Arts and Science.

Many of the scholarly articles examined by the ASA study reflect departmental research funded by organizations including the National Science Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

The Department of Sociology will undergo a self-study and external review during the 2000-01 academic year.

"The sociology faculty approaches its self-study and external review with much momentum," said Cornfield. "We look forward to engaging our Vanderbilt colleagues in dialogue about the leadership role we can play in strategic planning and contributing to the intellectual vitality of the University."

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