AI 中文总结
研究美国八个学术领域14000个学术部门规模动态，发现常见规模范围4至23名教员，此范围稳定性最高。基于规模分布汇总构建模型再现部门动态，结果表明学术部门有自然规模动态，小部门有增长或关闭模式，大部门增长受限。
AI 中文摘要
学术部门是大学学术和教育的主要单位，规模差异很大。但部门规模的影响及自然动态却鲜为人知。小部门人均教学和行政负担过重，大部门面临协调成本和主题不一致问题。本文利用美国八个学术领域的14000个部门来描述和建模部门规模动态。各领域分布显示常见规模范围为4至23名教员，上限随领域变宽。年度规模相关的关闭风险和增长率表明该规模范围稳定性最高：以下小部门易关闭或快速增长；范围内关闭风险低且规模稳定；以上大部门能存续，损耗小且关闭风险低。仅基于规模分布汇总的分析易处理模型再现了全规模范围的部门动态。按最稳定规模重新调整各领域后，多数领域呈现向稳定范围回归的趋势。研究结果表明学术部门是具有自然规模动态的组织，小部门有增长或关闭模式，大部门增长受限。
英文摘要
Academic departments are the primary unit of scholarship and education at universities, and they vary vastly in their sizes. However, the consequences and natural dynamics of department size are poorly understood. Small departments face disproportionate teaching and administrative overhead per faculty member, while large ones face coordination costs and thematic incoherence. Here, we characterize and model the dynamics of academic department sizes using $14,000$ U.S.-based departments in eight academic domains. Across all domains, similar broad-tailed distributions reveal a common size range from 4 to 23 faculty members, widening across domains at its upper border. Annual size-dependent closure risks and growth rates indicate that stability is greatest in this size range: below it, small departments either close or grow quickly; within it, closure risk is low and sizes stabilize; above it, large departments can persist, with marginal attrition and minimal closure risk. An analytically tractable model of size-dependent coagulation and fragmentation, informed only by the aggregated size distribution, reproduces department dynamics across the full size range. Rescaling each domain by its most stable size reveals a common regression toward the stable range across most domains. Our results establish academic departments as organizations with natural size dynamics defined by a grow-or-close pattern for the smallest departments, and a weak pressure against unlimited growth for the largest.
