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Gender gap in returns to publications.
Piotr Spiewanowski1, Ivan Stetsyuk2, Oleksandr Talavera3
1Institute of Economics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Scientific Reports
|June 14, 2026
Summary
This study found no overall gender gap in research publication returns. However, significant pay disparities persist, especially in medical fields, and credit attribution varies by authorship structure.
Area of Science:
- Sociology of Science
- Economics of Education
- Gender Studies
Background:
- Gender equity in science requires fair reward systems, not just participation.
- Monetary returns to research productivity, pay, and credit attribution are key indicators of equity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate gender gaps in monetary returns to research productivity.
- To analyze gender disparities in academic pay and credit attribution.
- To explore how discipline and authorship structure influence these gaps.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a novel dataset linking salary and publication records.
- Analyzed data for professors at U.S. public universities.
- Employed statistical controls for research productivity and other factors.
Main Results:
- No robust evidence of a significant gender gap in monetary returns to publications overall.
- Women in medical and health sciences show a 10.7% negative gap in returns.
- Unconditional gender pay gap is 15.4%, declining to 4.9% after controls; varies by discipline.
- Women receive higher returns for solo-authored work but lower returns for large co-authored projects.
Conclusions:
- While publication returns may be equitable overall, significant gender pay gaps exist and vary by discipline.
- Authorship structure impacts how men and women are rewarded for their research.
- Further investigation into discipline-specific and authorship-related inequities is warranted.
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