Abstract
We examined the publication records of a cohort of 168 life scientists in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology to assess gender differences in research performance. Clear discrepancies in publication rate between men and women appear very early in their careers and this has consequences for the subsequent citation of their work. We show that a recently proposed index designed to rank scientists fairly is in fact strongly biased against female researchers, and advocate a modified index to assess men and women on a more equitable basis.
Highlights
The causes of differences in gender representation within the hierarchical structure of academic science remain contentious
In 2005 the flames of this controversy were fanned by the widely reported comments of Lawrence Summers [1] who argued that few females had progressed to the higher levels of scientific academia due to a general lack of an innate aptitude for science when compared to males, rather than the presence of any discrimination. This view has been strongly criticised by others [most recently Ben Barres in Nature, [2]], who argue that performance differences reflect discrimination against females, support for this position is equivocal with investigations into gender bias in funding application success, for example, suggesting different conclusions [e.g. 3,4]
The two arguments may not necessarily be exclusive because the scientific review process, whether for papers, funding or promotions, could be inherently biased towards traits, such as self-promotion and overt competitiveness, that may be more typically exhibited by males [5]
Summary
The causes of differences in gender representation within the hierarchical structure of academic science remain contentious. There is a clear difference between men and women in science with regard to the quantity of their research output. One explanation that may account for the productivity puzzle is that female researchers produce fewer but higher quality publications.
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