Hyperprolific authorship: Unveiling the extent of extreme publishing in the ‘publish or perish’ era

Abstract

The increasing pressure of the “publish or perish” academic culture has contributed to the rise of hyperprolific authors—researchers who produce an exceptionally high number of publications. This study investigates the global phenomenon of hyperprolific authorship by analyzing the bibliometric data of over two million scholars across various disciplines from 2017 to 2019. Using field-specific thresholds to identify hyperprolific authors, we explore their geographic and disciplinary distributions, the impact of their publications, and their collaboration patterns. The results reveal that hyperprolific authors are concentrated in fields such as Clinical Medicine, Biomedical Research, and Chemistry, and in countries with substantial research investments, including China, the United States, and Germany. Contrary to concerns about a trade-off between quantity and quality, hyperprolific authors tend to produce higher-impact publications on average compared to their peers. Their output is strongly associated with extensive co-authorship networks, reflecting the role of collaboration in enabling prolific publishing. The findings underscore the need for balanced evaluation metrics that prioritize both quality and integrity in academic publishing. This study contributes to understanding the drivers and consequences of hyperprolific behavior, offering insights for research policy and evaluation practices.