Analysis On The Age Distribution Of Scientific Elites' Productivity: A Study On Academicians Of The Chinese Academy Of Science

Introduction Is there any regularity in scientists’ research activities? For example, does there exist a period when a scientist makes his most contributions? If so, which period is the most productive period? To answer the questions above, many scholars have been contributed their efforts on studying the relationships between productivity and age, such as: (1) age distribution of scientists’ creativity or productivity (Liming et al., 1996; Bonacarsi & Daraio, 2003; Jones 2010); (2) the relationship between the longevity and scientist’s outputs (Levin & Stephan, 1991; Jonesa & Weinberg 2011; Todorovsky, 2014); (3) the effects of age on researcher’s productivity (Bonacarsi & Daraio Costas & van Leeuwen, 2010). However, the previous research still leave some gaps need to be filled. One of them is what about the age distribution of an individual researcher’s achievements in his research career. Our research efforts in this paper would contribute to this topic. Particularly, the object of our study is Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Science. And we explore the age distribution of publication by these academicians.