While some academic librarians have embraced the role of researcher and have successfully become active researchers and authors, others have struggled to be productive in this aspect of their responsibilities. A content analysis of literature on research productivity for librarians and non-librarians was conducted in order to identify factors that have been found to affect research success. This content analysis is part of a larger study designed to develop an instrument to measure the impact of key factors on librarians' success in research. This analysis reinforces the need to identify and study those factors that are truly antecedents for librarians’ research productivity, so that the academic library community can put our efforts and resources towards providing the supports that will be most helpful.