Abstract

The study explores the relationship between academic mentorship and the productivity of academics in universities. Two questions and a hypothesis were raised to guide the study. The research design employed ex-post-facto methodology with a population of 3,492 academic staff. The stratified random sampling technique was used to determine the sample size of 676 academics. The questionnaire served as the main instrument for data collection. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.97 and the data collected were analyzed using SPSS. The analysis results indicated that the level of academic mentorship leadership practice exhibited in public universities in Delta and Edo States was low, and the academics showed a low level of productivity in research. Overall, the results showed a significant relationship between academic mentorship leadership practice and productivity in public universities in Delta and Edo States, Nigeria. Based on these findings, it is recommended that academic mentoring be emphasized, particularly in the area of research productivity, to enhance the overall research output of academics.

Key words: Mentorship, academics, leadership, productivity, public universities.