A new, objective measure of departmental performance--rate of publication in key journals--is described and shown to be highly correlated with the American Council on Education (ACE) ratings of quality. Updated rankings of mathematics, physics, and chemistry departments based on this index are presented. The analyses indicate that the ACE rankings favored larger departments, a finding consistent with previous research. In the future, the use of multiple objective indices, including this productivity measure, would insure a more complete profile of the nation's science departments. (Author)