Gender differences in research performance and its impact on careers: a longitudinal case study.
Peter van den Besselaar1, Ulf Sandström2
1Department of Organization Sciences & Network Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Scientometrics
|January 23, 2016
Summary
Male researchers' productivity grew faster than female researchers' over ten years, yet citation impact remained equal. Despite performance, gender still significantly influences academic career progression, indicating ongoing hiring bias.
Area of Science:
- Bibliometrics
- Sociology of Science
- Gender Studies
Background:
- Previous research indicated minimal gender performance differences among early-career researchers.
- The emergence or absence of gender performance gaps in later career stages remains unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the evolution of gender performance differences in academic research over a ten-year period.
- To analyze how productivity and citation impact vary between male and female researchers in later career stages.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a longitudinal study design tracking the same cohort of male and female researchers.
- Employed multiple performance indicators: productivity (full/fractional counting), citation impact, and relative citation impact (top 10% highly cited papers).
Main Results:
- Male researchers exhibited faster productivity growth than female researchers over ten years.
- Field-normalized citation impact and relative citation impact remained comparable between genders.
- Performance differences partially explained faster male career progression, but gender remained a significant independent factor.
Conclusions:
- While male researchers' productivity increases more rapidly, citation impact equality suggests nuanced gender dynamics in academia.
- Controlling for performance, gender remains a crucial determinant in career advancement, highlighting persistent bias in academic hiring and promotion processes.
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