The present study was undertaken to examine the relationship between the reputation of doctoral programs in Interpersonal Communication and the degree of research productivity associated with the faculty offering the program.

Authors, institutional affiliation, number of authors, position of article, and related information for every article published in Communication Monographs and Human Communication Research from 1994 through 2004 were recorded. Based on this analysis, productivity factors were calculated for faculty of every Ph.D. program in the National Communication Association (NCA) reputational study (2004) focused on Interpersonal Communication. Data analysis was conducted to explore possible statistical associations between quality assessments of the doctoral programs and the level of productivity of the faculty delivering the program.

In an effort to replicate the findings of the present study, program/faculty reputation pertaining to Mass Communication based on the NCA (2004) study data was predicted using publication data for Mass Communication.

Overall, the findings of the present study indicate that: (a) Program/faculty reputation of Interpersonal Communication doctoral programs are principally a function of publication in Communication Monographs and Human Communication Research, and (b) the basic model in which program/faculty reputation depends on publication in major research journals also applies to Mass Communication, however fragmented the field.

Several implications for enhancing the doctoral programs in communication follow from the overall pattern of results in the present study.