Structural analysis of co-author relationships and author productivity in selected outlets for consumer behavior research

This study examines the relation between author productivity and the network structure of collaboration among 1,215 authors who published consumer behavior articles in selected journals from 1977 to 1996. We find that the distribution of publication productivity is skewed, following an empirical regularity that has also been observed in other disciplines. After finding a strong relation between author productivity and collaboration, we next explore the structure of co-authorships. Network analysis reveals a "macronetwork" that includes virtually all of the most frequently published authors and many "micro" networks that surround them. Further analysis shows strong relations between publication productivity and the social-structural position of authors in co-author networks. Implications of these findings for understanding the institutional, intellectual, and social structure of knowledge production in consumer behavior are discussed.