Loading...
No evidence of citation bias as a determinant of STEM gender disparities in US Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology research
Thelwall, Michael Nevill, Tamara
Thelwall, Michael
Nevill, Tamara
Authors
Editors
Other contributors
Affiliation
Epub Date
Issue Date
2019-10-12
Submitted date
Alternative
Abstract
The lack of females in many Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in the USA is an ongoing concern, with many initiatives attempting to redress this imbalance. Some life sciences are apparently areas of relatively good practice, with higher proportions of female researchers than most other STEM subjects. This paper assesses gender differences in research contributions to 14 biochemistry, genetics or molecular biology specialisms in the USA 1996–2014/8, seeking evidence of trends in publishing and citation impact that may give insights into female success. With four exceptions (biochemistry, biophysics, biotechnology, and structural biology), the fields achieved or maintained at least 40% female first authors by 2018, with developmental biology and endocrinology both attaining female first author majorities. A regression analysis found close to gender parity overall in citation impact but a small male first author citation advantage in more fields than the opposite: an up to 3% increase in logged citation ratio to the world mean. This was partly due to males first authoring with larger teams. Fields with relatively many females did not favour female-led research with more citations, however.
Citation
Thelwall, M. & Nevill, T. (2019) No evidence of citation bias as a determinant of STEM gender disparities in US Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology research, Scientometrics, 121(3), pp. 1793–1801. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03271-0
Publisher
Research Unit
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Additional Links
Type
Journal article
Language
en
Description
Series/Report no.
ISSN
0138-9130