The Academic Elite in SixSocial Science Disciplines: Linkages Among Top-Ranked Graduate Departments

Abstract

It is not surprising that this penchant Cor ranking has spread to academia where programs, schools, colleges, and universities constantly are evaluated to determine which are the "best." When the publication of these studies and the _ ..relative standing of.the "best" schools are restricted to-professional-journals, they generally spark minor debates among professionals as to why a particular program was or was not included. However, when these rankings are seized upon and widely distributed by the mass media, they take on an exaggerated and undeserved air of importance. Because colleges and universities, as well as individual academic programs, currently are competing for a seemingly ever decreasing pool of highly qualified students, these rankings have become a major positive or negative factor in that competition. Consequently, the methods used for obtaining these rankings should be highly scrutinized, and their findings subjected to a rigorous review.

The Academic Elite in Library Science: Linkages among Top-Ranked Graduate Programs

“…Top-ranked law schools were substantially linked to one another in this manner, as were top-ranked doctoral programs in mathematics and the physical sciences, the social sciences, chemical engineering, psychology, and social work. [5][6][7][8][9][10] The extent to which top-ranked graduate programs in library science also might hire their own and one another's graduates was assessed in the present study.…”