Using data retrieved from the INSPEC database we have quantitatively discussed a few syndromes of the publish-or-perish phenomenon, including the continuous growth of the rate of scientific productivity, and the continuously decreasing percentage of those scientists who stay in science for a long time. Making use of the maximum entropy principle and fluctuation-dissipation theorem, we have shown that the observed fat-tailed distributions of the total number of papers $x$ authored by scientists may result from the density-of-states function $g(x;\tau )$ underlying the scientific community. Although different generations of scientists are characterized by different productivity patterns, the function $g(x;\tau )$ is inherent to researchers of a given seniority $\tau$, whereas the publish-or-perish phenomenon is caused only by an external field $\theta$ influencing researchers.

• Received 21 June 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.75.026103