The scholarly impact of articles published by men and women in psychology journals

Abstract

In considering whether men and women produce research of equal quality, it needs to be asked not whether similar numbers of important contributions come from men and women (since numerically there have been more men than women among researchers), but whether the proportion of women active in research who make important contributions is the same as the proportion of men active in research who make important contributions. A search of entries in the 1985 edition ofSocial Sciences Citation Index located 564 articles from psychology journals which had attracted 15 or more citations. The sex ratio among senior authors of these high-impact articles was compared with the sex-ratio among senior authors of low-impact articles published in the same journals. The majority of high-impact articles had been published by men, but so had most low-impact articles. When allowance was made for the different numerical representation of the two sexes among authors, there was no evidence that men and women differ in terms of the impact of articles they publish. The results are discussed in the context of methodological issues in evaluation of sex differences in scientific performance, as well as with reference to the limited recognition that women so far have gained for research achievement in psychology.