The impact of research productivity on early retirement of university professors

Using samples of several hundred faculty at the University of California, this study examines whether declining research productivity is related to the acceptance of an early retirement program. Research productivity is measured by the number of papers published per year for 3 years and 15 years before the announcement of the early-retirement program. The ratio of the 3-year publication measure to the 15-year publication measure was used to measure the extent of decline in research output. Results suggest that professors who published less than peers during the 3 years before the retirement programs and those whose research output h ad declined more than that of peers were more likely to retire early.