Do book chapters count in measures of faculty productivity?

In the department where I worked, book chapters did not count as much as an article in a referred journal. To this day, the journal articles and book chapters are separated out on my curriculum vitae (CV) even though both are peer reviewed. In those days, less so now, they were not included in citation indexes. You may work in a similar environment and be just as puzzled about it as I am.

What is the Argument they Don’t Count?

The argument that was presented to me about why book chapters count less in measures of faculty productivity is that they are usually invited. The person doing the inviting knows you; is a colleague or friend and this is a bad thing.

Why they Should Count to Faculty Productivity

From the vantage point of a long career of sitting on innumerable tenure and promotion committees, I see this issue quite differently. An invitation to write a book chapter is usually an invitation to extend or expand on a topic you’ve published or presented about previously. Books are not as prominent in the natural sciences and “hard” sciences as the social sciences. That is one reasons that book chapters have taken a back seat in tenure and promotion decisions. They are not as easily accessible on line as a journal article.

An invitation to write a book chapter reflects visibility and recognition. It is a real honor, for example, for me to have achieved prominence enough to be invited to write chapters in the new handbooks about mixed methods research. Editors of these kinds of books are often highly esteemed scholars with strong reputations. They seek out those who are writing at the cutting edge of a topic or field.

A table of contents that lists author affiliations is one clear indicator if the scope of an edited book is local, national, or international. A list of authors that includes those from a variety of continents is a clear indicator of visibility and recognition.