^aDepartment of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science, Hamburg University, Allende-Platz 1, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany. E-mail: holzinger@sozialwiss.uni-hamburg.de

Abstract

Research productivity in terms of publications in international journals varies greatly across European countries. Language and country size have been discussed as factors responsible for this. However, institutional factors may be more important. The contribution analyses the institutions shaping three typical stages of career development in research: the Ph.D. phase, the post-doc phase and professorship. The incentives for publication provided by two institutional systems are compared: the Anglo-Saxon type, represented by the UK, and the continental type, represented by Germany. The author concludes that the Anglo-Saxon system has advantages over the continental European system at all three stages of a career.