Scientific output and impact of postdoctoral scientists: a gender perspective

Abstract

This paper analyses the scientific output and impact of 731 Ph.D. holders who were awarded their doctorate at Spanish universities between 1990 and 2002. The aim was to identify any differences in the amount of scientific output and the impact of publications, in terms of citations, according to gender. The analysis revealed no significant differences in the amount of scientific output between males and females. However, the proportion of female Ph.D. holders with no postdoctoral output was significantly higher than that of their male counterparts, and the median number of papers published after Ph.D. completion was also lower among women. As regards pre- and postdoctoral research, the data showed that early scientific output may be a good predictor of subsequent productivity in both gender groups. The results also indicated that articles by female Ph.D. holders were cited significantly more often, even when self-citations were excluded.