Does Gender Predict Research Productivity? The Case of Prolific Suicidologists

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Psychiatry
• Bibliometrics

Background:

• Existing literature on gender and research productivity shows mixed results.
• No prior studies have specifically examined gender's impact on suicidology research productivity.
• This study addresses this gap by focusing on elite, highly prolific suicidologists.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between gender and research productivity in suicidology.
• To analyze gender differences in publication quantity, citation counts, and h-index among top suicidologists.
• To control for factors like experience, research collaboration, and geographic region.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Web of Science (WoS) for 116 highly prolific suicidologists (≥70 publications).
• Measured research productivity using publication count, total citations, and h-index.
• Employed regression analyses, adjusting for years of experience, research cluster membership, and region.

Main Results:

• Male suicidologists published more works than females.
• Gender was not a significant predictor of research quality (citations or h-index).
• Years of experience and research cluster membership positively predicted productivity; region did not.

Conclusions:

• No significant gender difference exists in the quality of research output in suicidology.
• Findings align with previous research on gender and productivity among prolific scientists.
• Future research could explore other factors like marital status and grant funding.