gender, academic position & publishing: a bibliometric analysis of the oeuvres of researchers
DESCRIPTION
Presentation: Gender, Academic Position & Publishing: a bibliometric analysis of the oeuvres of researchers. This project has been presented at the STI 2014 conference. Authors: Inge van der Weijden and Clara Calero MedianTRANSCRIPT
Gender, Academic Position & Publishing: a bibliometric analysis of the oeuvres of researchers
Inge van der Weijden & Clara Calero Medina
STI Conference- 4 September 2014
Outline
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Results
– General gender analyses
– Gender analyses based on academic positions
– Gender analyses in Public Health
• Conclusions
2
Introduction: Women In Science
• Equally represented in Master and PhD phase (Eurostat 2013)
• Underrepresented in Tenure Track & Faculty Positions (e.g. Chesterman et al 2005)
• Pay-gap (in Belgium net - € 387/month; Levecque et al 2014)
3
Introduction: Women In Science
Gender Gaps in scientific output identified in literature:
• Productivity gap (e.g. Larivière et al 2011)– Women are less productive in terms of no WoS
publications
• Last-author position gap (e.g. West 2013)– Women are under-represented in last authorship
• Internat. collaboration gap (e.g. Barrios et al 2013)– Women are less involved in international collaboration
4
Aims of this study
• Compare the oeuvres of female and male scientists by research areas and academic position. As academic publishing is still very important for career
development [recruitment, promotion, tenure] of researchers (Wren et al 2007).
• Give recommendations for the improvement of gender mainstreaming
5
Methodology: Dataset
• N=1994 scientists: 560 females; 1434 males• Web-survey conducted by the University of
Wolverhamton in 2011 [random sample]• 15 different EU countries• Four research areas: astronomy & astrophysics; public
health; philosophy; environmental engineering• Six different academic positions: full prof; associate
prof, assistant prof, postdoc, student, other • Use of the ‘CWTS large scale author name
disambiguation’ algorithm to collect WoS papers
Bibliometric Indicators
• Indicators of scientific output
– Number of publications
– Authorship position: first, last, single [% of papers]
• Impact indicators
– Average number of citations [Mcs & Mncs]
– Proportion of papers belonging to top 10 [pp top 10])
• Indicators of collaboration
– % of papers with co-authors from other institutions
– % of papers with international co-authors
A. General Results
• Productivity gender gap: 18 [m] / 10 [f]
• Last-author position gender gap: 15% [m] / 10% [f]
• No difference in impact:
mncs=1.05 [m] / mncs=1.04 [f]
• Intern. collaboration gender gap: 30% [m] / 24% [f]
These results are in line with earlier studies (e.g. Fox 2005; Mauleon & Bordons 2006; Lariviere et al 2011; 2013; West 2013; Dotson 2011; Feramisco et al 2009; Lewinson 2001; Barrios et al 2013)
B. Researchers by Academic Position & Gender
Academic Position Gender Numberof researchers
Percentage
Full Professor Female 70 17%Full Professor Male 352 83%
Associate Professor Female 186 29%Associate Professor Male 454 71%
Assistant Professor Female 99 33%Assistant professor Male 205 67%
Postdoc Female 103 35%Postdoc Male 189 65%
(master/PhD) Student Female 51 39%(master/PhD) Student Male 79 61%
First Authorship
4036,9
3127,8
21,3
49,245,7
37,9
32,9
25
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
(master/PhD)student
postdoc assistant professor associate professor full professor
Perc
enta
ge
Academic Position
Figure: Proportion of papers signed as first author
men
women
Last Authorship
11,910,8
14,7
19,7
26,01
6,68,26
10,6
15,9
23,9
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
(master/PhD)student
postdoc assistant professor associate professor full professor
Perc
enta
ge
Academic Position
Figure: Proportion of papers signed as last author
men
women
International collaboration
4546,3
31,634,6
28,9
33,643,2
28,630,5
30,7
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
(master/PhD)student
postdoc assistant professor associate professor full professor
Perc
enta
ge
Academic Position
Figure: Proportion of papers written in international collaboration
men
women
C. Researchers by Area, Position & Gender
Discipline Gender Number of researchers Percentage per discipline per gender
Astronomy & Astrophysics Female 101 20%
Astronomy& Astrophysics Male 393 80%
Environmental Engineering Female 138 26%
Environmental Engineering Male 394 74%
Philosophy Female 92 20%
Philosophy Male 367 80%
Public Health Female 229 45%
Public Health Male 280 55%
Public Health (1)
Number of researchers
(n)
Total number of publications
(p)
Publications per
researcher
Male 278 11721 42.7 [mdn=26.0]
Female 228 5560 24.6[mdn=13.0]
Indicators of output [1980-2012] per gender
Public Health (2)
Position Male Female
Postdocs (n=52; 54 % female)
17 [mdn=8.0]
12 [mdn=8.5]
Associate prof(n=185; 48% female)
42[mdn=32.0]
31[mdn=22.0]
Average number of publications per researcher
Public Health (3)
32,6
19,1
3,8
44,1
12,8
2,4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
first authorship last authorship single authorship
Pe
rce
nta
ge
Proportion of papers signed as first, last & single author
men
women
Public Health (4)
43,94
33,61
40,26
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
male female
Proportion of papers signed as first author (%)
postdocs associate professors
11,86
8,96
17,5116,31
0
5
10
15
20
male female
Proportion of papers signed as last author (%)
postdocs associate professors
Public Health (5)
Mcs Mncs Pptop 10%
Male 11.32 [mdn=8.88]
1.13[mdn=0.94]
12%[mdn=8.2%]
Female 12.02[mdn=9.79]
1.07[mdn=0.96]
11%[8.6%]
Indicators of impact [1980-2012] per gender
Public Health (6)
69,1
32,2
70
29,8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
collaboration international collaboration
Pe
rce
nta
ge
Indicators of collaboration [1980-2012] per gender
men
women
Public Health (7)
72,74 73,6767,9 65,99
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
male female
Proportion of papers written with co-authors from
different institutes (%)
postdocs associate professors
32,88 34,1730,8226,97
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
male female
Proportion of papers written with co-authors from
different countries (%)
postdocs associate professors
Conclusions (1)
– Men produce on average a higher number of publications compared to women
– Women are not evenly represented across authorship positions:
• At each level of the career ladder the papers in the oeuvres of the female researchers consist of a higher percentage of first authorships compared to males
• Women are underrepresented in the last and most prestigious author position
Conclusions (2)
– There are no gender differences regarding research impact
– Percentage of international collaboration is always lower for female researchers compared to males, except at the position of full professors
Conclusions Public Health (3)
Gender Gaps in scientific output
Our contribution to the literature:
• Productivity gap: in PH starts after postdoc phase
• Last author position gap: in PH becomes smaller in higher/more prestigious positions
• International collaborations gap: in PH becomes bigger at the level of associate professor
Introduction: Studies of barriers
What keeps women from moving up the career ladder?
• Glass ceiling (‘the invisible barriers created by behavioral and organizational prejudices’)
• Leaky pipeline (‘leaks and blockages in the pipe’)
• Matilde effect (‘the poor get poorer’)
• Gender myths (‘persisting myths in favor of men create attitudes in relation to the assessment of women’s scientific performance’)
• Matching hypothesis (‘creation of ties with
similar others’)
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