Gender and citation in two LIS E-Journals : a comment

Abstract

In LIBRES Vol 19, 1, 2010 Linsay Reece-Evans reported research which examined bibliometric analysis of gender and citation in two LIS E-Journals: LIBRES and Information Research. Reece-Evans makes the salient point that women outnumber men at ratio of approximately 4:1 in the library and information science (LIS) field as whole and 3:1 in academic librarianship. It is also noted that past studies suggest that male-authored LIS print journal articles outnumber female-authored articles both in number and in citations received. This is an important consideration in an environment where the amount of citations received can serve as an indication of status within the LIS profession and can affect chances for professional advancement. Results of the reported study likewise suggest gendered affinity in citation and reference behaviour. Findings conclude that from 1995-2007 more men than women published articles in the two e-journals under review; that both men and women referenced more male-authored articles; that men referenced male-authored articles at greater rate than women referenced female-authored articles; that articles by women received more citations overall; and that men cited articles by men at greater rate than they cited articles by women. The study also found that female authorship was proportionately higher in the two LIS e-journals than in the three core LIS print journals reviewed for the study. Reece-Evans suggests that the imbalance in citation and reference patterns is result of gender influences on both male and female authors' choice of references, and that these gender influences also contribute to the amount of citations that authors receive. I was awarded my doctorate in LIS at Curtin University in Western Australia in November 2009. Reading Reece-Evans' research provided some moments of reflection in terms of my own research behaviour, and the research base of the profession in Australia more generally. With these considerations in mind I thought the paper worthy of comment. Firstly, I cannot remember considering the gender of authors in research I cited in my PhD thesis, and secondly, it is often impossible to tell the gender from author data provided in papers. Is Reece-Evans male or female? The name is used by both males and females with variety of spellings. The highest office holder in Australia, the Governor General, is named Quentin Bryce. Quentin is usually male name, but the Governor General is woman. And of course most of us are familiar with the tongue in cheek ballad of Johnny Cash, Boy Named Sue. My own name, Peta, the feminine of the more popular Peter, and is unknown in many countries. I routinely receive mail addressed to Mr. Pete Wellstead, people presuming that the a is misspelt e. Also, many journals use only initials for authors so gender can never be known. It is statistically measurable and visually obvious that the LIS profession has strong female bias in terms of numbers overall. But is this the whole picture? An examination of research behaviour within LIS in terms of publication and citation may have been enhanced by some data on the other measurements of the make-up of the profession. A review of age at point of entry; length of time spent in the profession; and breakdown of the hours worked may have shed light on some of the findings presented. Some figures on the place of work on gender basis may have also added considerably to the study. While the figures presented do indeed seem to suggest gender bias in authorship and citation in the two journals under review, an examination of the professional behaviour of women and men in LIS may have shed more light on the issue at hand. Are women more likely to be working part-time and to have to sporadic professional and research careers? Possibly. Are women more likely to be working in practice based branches of the profession rather than in areas that generate high level research? …