Relation between aging and research productivity of academic psychologists.

Using a cross-sequential design involving four birth cohorts and five measurement periods, a curvilinear relation between aging and research productivity was found for more than 1,000 academic psychologists. Productivity typically began at a low rate in the 20s, increased to a peak around age 40, then decreased in the later years. Substantial individual differences were also observed. Those who began as high publishers remained more productive than the low or medium groups at each age level examined, and even at ages 55-64 they were more productive than the medium or low publishers were at their highest rate. Altogether, across cohorts and publishing levels, age accounted for 6.5% of the variance in publication rate from ages 25-34 to 55-64.