This article constructs a technology transfer performance (TTP) evaluation
model and tries to identify critical success factors for university commercialization. Different from most of previous researches which ignore the impact of academic capacity (i.e. scientific publications) on TTP, this paper examines the linkage between academic capacity and TTP. This study applies the structural equation model (SEM) to analyze the relations among five factors of TTP. The research results show that publishing capacity is the critical success factor in university commercialization. The increasing of research expenditures brings commercial benefit by means of the accumulation of scientific publications. Research expenditures also indirectly increase patent volume but may not promote TTP. Patenting activities may not the critical activities for university appropriation in technology transfer process. Patent volume may not bring license income; patent quality may be beneficial to university commercialization. Finally, this research visualizes TTP to articulate performance creation paths of university commercialization.