  In this work we investigate the determinants of professors' career
advancement in Italian universities. From the analyses, it emerges that the
fundamental determinant of an academic candidate's success is not scientific
merit, but rather the number of years that the candidate has belonged to the
same university as the selection committee president. Where applicants have
participated in research work with the president, their probability of success
also increases significantly. The factors of the years of service and
occurrence of joint research for the other commission members also have an
effect, however of lesser weight. The specific phenomenon of nepotism, although
it exists, seems less important. The scientific quality of the commission
members has negligible effect on the expected outcome of the competition, and
even more so the geographic location of the university calling for the
competition.
