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The academic Great Gatsby Curve
Ye Sun1,2, Fabio Caccioli2,3,4, Xiancheng Li5
1School of Mathematics, Southeast University , Nanjing 210096, People's Republic of China.
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
|August 14, 2024
Summary
An academic Great Gatsby Curve reveals that higher academic impact inequality correlates with greater persistence of impact across generations. This suggests decreasing academic intergenerational mobility over time.
Area of Science:
- Bibliometrics
- Sociology of Science
- Economics
Background:
- The Great Gatsby Curve illustrates the link between income inequality and intergenerational income mobility.
- Understanding similar dynamics in academia is crucial for assessing fairness and opportunity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether an 'academic Great Gatsby Curve' exists.
- To analyze the relationship between academic impact inequality and intergenerational impact persistence.
- To examine trends in academic intergenerational mobility.
Main Methods:
- Utilized genealogical data from 245,000+ mentor-mentee pairs.
- Analyzed academic publications across 22 disciplines.
- Quantified academic impact and its persistence across generations.
Main Results:
- Confirmed the existence of an academic Great Gatsby Curve.
- Found a positive correlation between academic impact inequality and intergenerational impact persistence.
- Observed an increasing trend in mentor-mentee impact correlation, indicating reduced academic mobility over time.
Conclusions:
- Academic success and impact show patterns of inequality and reduced mobility, mirroring economic trends.
- Further research is needed to explore factors influencing this academic mobility.
- Findings highlight potential disparities in academic opportunities and impact inheritance.
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