Scholarly Profile of Programs and Faculty
A look at how scholarly output of our graduate faculty continues to increase
Sara Dolan, Associate Dean for Professional Development
A mark of an R1 institution is the scholarly productivity of the graduate faculty. Baylor’s faculty continue an upward trajectory of publishing a greater number of research articles each year, illustrated in the graph below. Our faculty are approaching 1,400 articles per year in the world-wide database of major peer-reviewed journals maintained by Clarivate Analytics, continuing our growth toward recognition as being among the strongest research universities.
More broadly, the Office of Institutional Research & Testing maintains an annual Academic Analytics (AcA) database that counts not publications, but also the citations, awards, and grant dollars of every graduate faculty member of every PhD program in the nation. Data from 2021, the most recent available, is presented here:
Highest Ranked PhD Programs in 2021
| PhD Program | Percentile Rank |
|---|---|
| Higher Education Studies and Leadership | 100 |
| Entrepreneurship | 95 |
| History | 95 |
| Philosophy | 94 |
| Information Systems | 89 |
| Preaching | 88 |
| Educational Psychology | 85 |
| Religion | 85 |
| Environmental Science | 75 |
| Exercise & Nutrition Sciences | 73 |
| Sociology | 68 |
| Curriculum & Instruction | 64 |
| Biomedical Studies | 63 |
| Biology | 62 |
| Mathematics | 61 |
| Psychology | 59 |
| Physics | 51 |
Some of our newer PhD programs are performing well, with the program in Higher Education Studies and Leadership ranked #1 in the nation. Both Entrepreneurship and Information Systems are in the top 5 programs at Baylor. Faculty in those programs are among the top 11% of faculty in similar programs nationally. Humanities programs continue to be of extraordinary caliber, with faculty in History, Philosophy, and Religion ranked in the top 20%. STEM programs are also well represented, with Environmental Sciences, Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Biology, Mathematics, and Physics all ranked at or above the 50th percentile. These comparisons among our peers suggest Baylor has very strong programs across disciplines. Many R1 institutions achieve this status because of research done in their affiliated medical schools. Baylor, however, has done so even in the absence of the high volume of STEM and biomedical research programs that are found within medical schools. Excellence among our Humanities and Social Science faculty is part of what makes us who we are.
R1 Moving Forward
As Dean Lyon wrote, achieving R1 status is just the beginning. We expect more of our doctoral programs to rank in the top 50% of comparable programs nationally, and we believe all of our research doctoral programs can reach this ranking, especially as we attract, hire, and retain exceptional faculty who train outstanding graduate students. Our faculty will continue to publish even more articles and win more research grants, and we will do so in our distinctive caring, Christian environment.
It is also important to continue to improve the quality of our already-strong online and professional programs. The national recognition achieved by some of our professional programs in 2022 is notable. For example, the Doctor of Education in Learning and Organizational Change program is #4, the online Master’s in Public Health program is #8, and the online Master’s in Computer Science program is #12 nationally, according to Fortune magazine. Our Doctor of Nursing Practice online programs are also ranked in the top 10% according to Us News and World Report. We expect that as our online and professional programs continue to mature, we will see even more of these kinds of recognitions.