Italian universities do not recruit according to proficiency in scientific production

Abstract

We analyzed the files regarding recruitment competitions won by 186 professors of selected bibliometric disciplines in Florence between January 2014 and 30 June 2021. An equal number of professors recruited at other Italian universities and of researchers who never attained professorship in Italy were randomly chosen in the same disciplines as each Florentine professor among individuals possessing National Scientific Qualification, a prerequisite for professorship. The H-indexes at the time of qualification (T1), of the Florence call (T2), and the current (T3) time were obtained from Scopus. Non-recruited researchers were more likely (Chi-square test) to show a higher H-index than both Florentine (T1 p=0.0005, T2 p=0.0015, T3 p=0.0095) and non-Florentine professors (T1 p=0.0078, T2 p=0.0245, T3 p=0.0500). Fifty-four non-recruited scientists serve in foreign universities, 100 at national/international research centers. The remaining 32 scientists (25 who keep producing despite precarious employment, and seven who have stopped publishing) were, at any rate, as likely as Florentine (T3 p=0.69) and non-Florentine professors (T3 p=0.14) to show a higher H-index. This study suggests that Italian academia does not recruit professors according to their qualitative/quantitative ability to publish, a detriment to knowledge for the nationwide system and on a global scale.