The impact of mentorship on the research performance of LIS PhDs

Though existing research on academic mentorship demonstrates its positive impact on research productivity, its effect on students' academic careers requires further study. This work explores the relationship between the publishing patterns of students and their advisors in LIS in North Amera using a bibliometric approach. It finds that the doctoral mentorship relationship may play a significant role in student research performance: advisor co-authorship with advisees helps to increase the latter's research output and impact and sharing similar research interests with an advisor results in higher student productivity. This research contributes to scholarship on the value of doctoral mentorship and provides insight into the academic LIS network, authorship, and advisor-advisee scholarly interaction and output. It discusses the instrumental benefits found in mentor relationships alongside the importance of establishing one's individuality as a researcher; scholarship has shown that students who establish intellectual independence have higher impact careers