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[joanandrew]

Hi,
I am not sure if this is right forum to ask, but I am sure the issue of publication expectations come up alot in this forum.  I was wondering if it is common for colleges and universities to offer a publication stipend or bonus when an article has been published in a journal?  If your institution offers a publication stipend or bonus, would you please share the institution and dollar amount that a faculty member is paid?
Thank you!
Joan

[abitatd]

Wouldn't that be nice - but if your tenure track and at a research u., you are expected to get publications. No bonuses or stipends for getting them - that's part of the reason they are paying you already.

That being said, if you are successful in this area (and maybe get a grant), your school might have a research award you could win that might come with some "bonus bucks" for being a standout.

[oldfullprof]

Mafia Tech actually did this in the business school as part of its AACSB ramp up.  They'd pay $5,000 for a refereed published article.  The dean (who had two lifetime publications - and is dean at a CSU now) and his cronies revised this to also include published conference proceedings.  As a new assistant professor there, I wouldn't go near this system with a ten foot pole.  Part of their displeasure with me was one or two negative comments I made about this.  In other words, I didn't STFU.  They non-renewed me, of course, but I started looking as soon as I got there.

Profoundly corrupt.

[donstefano]

Institution outside US: payment of approx. 750$ for an article, but not to you, but into your personal research budget. It is partly seen as a reward, but also partly to compensate those scholars who publish but who do not have externally funded research or consulting income - because we are required to earn money to pay for our own books, conferences, etc.

750$ is high enough to make it nice, but low enough to avoid that people start gaming the system in order to generate cash

(BTW, we are not allowed to keep consulting fees ourselves - it goes to your research budget)

[busyslinky]

I know of a number of schools that do this inside and outside the U.S.  Some of them use a point system, some just for the publications on a per publication basis.

One school has a ranking system where a recognized top tier journal (using impact factors) would get you (these are approximate) $3000, a middle journal, $2000, all other journal articles $1000.  They would divide it by the number of authors so if you were one of 3 authors on one top tier journal you would get $1000. 

Some schools limit the amount of publications you can get credit for in a fiscal year.  Some had no limit.  I wish I was at some of these schools.  Mine only considers research output as part of a whole set of measures for merit (not in the last 3 years, of course) increases.  It is an important factor.  So, indirectly it does pay.

I remember there was a study or two that calculated a scholar's lifetime additional earnings from a quality publication (back from the 1980's and from UPenn, If I remember correctly) and they said it was worth about $5000 extra earnings, back then.  With inflation, that is probably closer to around 8-10K. 

[seniorscholar]

Not a specific publication bonus that can be counted upon, but at my US R-1 university several articles during one calendar year will almost certainly result in one of the competitive merit increases ($600 to base for each unit, which in this case might be "3 articles in good journals = 1 unit" depending on the department) awarded annually -- unless the merit units alotted to one's department have been used up by the also conventional 3-5 units for one book published with good academic press during the year.

[polly_mer]

I've heard of people getting a merit bump for publishing above expectations and getting money for research budget to replace page charges, but I've not heard of getting paid for doing the required minimum.

[janewales]

No direct payment, but merit pay is part of our normal compensation package, and publication plays a major role in determining who gets it. Merit is a permanent bump of about 1100.00 to base salary. In my humanities department, a single-author book would guarantee a merit increment; the number of articles that would get one over the bar varies, but three would normally be a sure thing so long as they're respectable, and two can be enough if they're well-placed and/ or if there are other meritorious aspects to the file (there's a committee that assesses everyone for merit pay every year).

[oldfullprof]

Mafia Tech actually did this in the business school as part of its AACSB ramp up.  They'd pay $5,000 for a refereed published article.  The dean (who had two lifetime publications - and is dean at a CSU now) and his cronies revised this to also include published conference proceedings.  As a new assistant professor there, I wouldn't go near this system with a ten foot pole.  Part of their displeasure with me was one or two negative comments I made about this.  In other words, I didn't STFU.  They non-renewed me, of course, but I started looking as soon as I got there.
Profoundly corrupt.

I should add that "merit" had nothing to do with merit.  I had two refereed pubs in a year, and didn't get it (3-3 load.)  Merit funds were used to retain accountants and finance people who threatened to leave (usually completely unpublished.)  These funds were also used to retain cronies.

I had received high merit on my previous campus every year I was there ($1,000 on base.)