There is an extensive and long-stan

There is an extensive and long-standing literature describing the factors that can impact on the production of published output (Blackburn and Lawrence, 1995; Hourcade and Anderson, 1998). Recently, Hemmings et al. (2007, p. 308) reviewed this literature and pointed out that “the most salient influences on academic publishing output are those associated with the individual, the workplace environment, and social contingencies”. They directed considerable attention in their review on the individual and, in particular, the notion of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is a construct grounded in social cognition theory (Bandura, 2001). The construct refers to an estimation of how well one can carry out a set of actions to achieve certain results. According to Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2007), self-efficacy can affect the goals set and the realisation of these goals. Bandura (1997) argues that self-efficacy beliefs are affected in a range of ways; foremost, is the effect of previous performance and particularly any mastery experiences. Additionally, self-efficacy beliefs are formed through vicarious experiences and persuasion from other people (Winocur et al., 1989). Zimmerman (2000) has also demonstrated that the level of perceived self-efficacy can be increased through such means as the provision of immediate and constant feedback and the establishment of short-term goals, compared to long-term goal setting. However, some caution needs to be exercised here as Zimmerman’s work has been conducted primarily with children and adolescents, whose self-efficacy beliefs may be more malleable. Logically, self-efficacy in research is concerned with a personal estimation of how well one can execute a set of research-related tasks. As alluded to earlier, self-efficacy in research has consistently been shown to be related to publication output (Bailey, 1999; Landino and Owen, 1988; Vasil, 1992). That is, a high level of self-efficacy for