IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v48y2024i5s0308596124000314.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Citation politics: The gender gap in internet governance

Author

Listed:
  • Rosa, Fernanda R.
  • Anastácio, Kimberly
  • Pereira de Jesus, Maria Vitoria
  • Veras, Hemanuel Jhosé A.

Abstract

This article proposes an informed debate on the politics of citation in internet governance (IG), focusing on gender. To this end, we use the Bibliographic Reference Index (BRI) to examine the prominence of female and male names in the IG references. The BRI is based on an action research process (“pesquisa-ação”), in which authors fill out information about their citation practices. The aim is to promote self-reflection on authors’ selection of references whilst collecting bibliographic data. We applied the BRI to 1113 citations from 35 papers published in the Proceedings of the Brazilian Internet Governance Research Network (REDE) throughout 2017–2021. Results show that male-gendered names were cited more than double the number of times of female-gendered names (47% vs. 20%). To situate these results vis-à-vis global IG, we analyze the gender gap in the curriculum of IG schools and courses, by applying the index to an Internet Governance Forum compilation of 22 IG syllabi and course programs, comprising 96 references and the names of 217 IG experts worldwide. Results show that female names authored only 19% of the syllabi readings and materials featured vs. 29% by men. Also, the gender rate among experts is 63% vs. 37% in favor of men. Based on the structural gender inequalities that we have found in global and local IG contexts, we recommend interventions to increase the conscious engagement with bibliography and syllabus preparation on two fronts: 1) we recommend the application of the BRI to IG syllabi and course programs to monitor and reduce the gender gap; and 2) we provide a citation diversity statement that IG scholars can add to their publications in order to promote self-reflection about their knowledge production and add transparency to the politics of citation in IG.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosa, Fernanda R. & Anastácio, Kimberly & Pereira de Jesus, Maria Vitoria & Veras, Hemanuel Jhosé A., 2024. "Citation politics: The gender gap in internet governance," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:48:y:2024:i:5:s0308596124000314
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2024.102734
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596124000314
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2024.102734?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Louise Marie Hurel & Luisa Cruz Lobato, 2018. "Unpacking cyber norms: private companies as norm entrepreneurs," Journal of Cyber Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 61-76, January.
    2. Maliniak, Daniel & Powers, Ryan & Walter, Barbara F., 2013. "The Gender Citation Gap in International Relations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 889-922, October.
    3. Milton L. Mueller, 2004. "Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262632985, April.
    4. Varon, Joana & Peña, Paz, 2021. "Artificial intelligence and consent: A feminist anti-colonial critique," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 10(4), pages 1-25.
    5. Junming Huang & Alexander J. Gates & Roberta Sinatra & Albert-László Barabási, 2020. "Historical comparison of gender inequality in scientific careers across countries and disciplines," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(9), pages 4609-4616, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rodrigo Dorantes-Gilardi & Aurora A. Ramírez-Álvarez & Diana Terrazas-Santamaría, 2021. "Is there a differentiated gender effect of collaboration with supercited authors? Evidence from early-career economists," Serie documentos de trabajo del Centro de Estudios Económicos 2021-05, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos.
    2. Zhang, Lin & Sivertsen, Gunnar & Du, Huiying & HUANG, Ying & Glänzel, Wolfgang, 2021. "Gender differences in the aims and impacts of research," SocArXiv 9n347, Center for Open Science.
    3. Roberta Ruggieri & Fabrizio Pecoraro & Daniela Luzi, 2021. "An intersectional approach to analyse gender productivity and open access: a bibliometric analysis of the Italian National Research Council," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1647-1673, February.
    4. Thelwall, Mike & Kousha, Kayvan & Stuart, Emma & Makita, Meiko & Abdoli, Mahshid & Wilson, Paul & Levitt, Jonathan, 2023. "Do bibliometrics introduce gender, institutional or interdisciplinary biases into research evaluations?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    5. Kwiek, Marek & Roszka, Wojciech, 2021. "Gender-based homophily in research: A large-scale study of man-woman collaboration," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    6. Zhou, Sifan & Chai, Sen & Freeman, Richard B., 2024. "Gender homophily: In-group citation preferences and the gender disadvantage," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    7. Marek Kwiek & Wojciech Roszka, 2021. "Gender Disparities In International Research Collaboration: A Study Of 25,000 University Professors," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 1344-1380, December.
    8. Lin Zhang & Gunnar Sivertsen & Huiying Du & Ying Huang & Wolfgang Glänzel, 2021. "Gender differences in the aims and impacts of research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(11), pages 8861-8886, November.
    9. Zhang, Ning & He, Guangye & Shi, Dongbo & Zhao, Zhenyue & Li, Jiang, 2022. "Does a gender-neutral name associate with the research impact of a scientist?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).
    10. Rodrigo Dorantes-Gilardi & Aurora A. Ramírez-Álvarez & Diana Terrazas-Santamaría, 2023. "Is there a differentiated gender effect of collaboration with super-cited authors? Evidence from junior researchers in economics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(4), pages 2317-2336, April.
    11. Anna K Johnson & Joséphine Lechartre & Şehrazat G Mart & Mark D Robison & Caroline Hughes, 2023. "Peace scholarship and the local turn: Hierarchies in the production of knowledge about peace," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(4), pages 675-690, July.
    12. Levinson, Nanette S., 2021. "Idea entrepreneurs: The United Nations Open-Ended Working Group & cybersecurity," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6).
    13. Yu, Xiaoyao & Szymanski, Boleslaw K. & Jia, Tao, 2021. "Become a better you: Correlation between the change of research direction and the change of scientific performance," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    14. Letki, Natalia & Biały, Grzegorz & Sankowski, Piotr & Walentek, Dawid, 2022. "Streamlining for excellence discriminates against women: A study of research productivity of 2.7 mln scientists in 45 countries," OSF Preprints yr8me, Center for Open Science.
    15. Zhang, Ming-Ze & Wang, Tang-Rong & Lyu, Peng-Hui & Chen, Qi-Mei & Li, Ze-Xia & Ngai, Eric W.T., 2024. "Impact of gender composition of academic teams on disruptive output," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    16. Allison C. Morgan & Nicholas LaBerge & Daniel B. Larremore & Mirta Galesic & Jennie E. Brand & Aaron Clauset, 2022. "Socioeconomic roots of academic faculty," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(12), pages 1625-1633, December.
    17. Tahmooresnejad, Leila & Turkina, Ekaterina, 2022. "Female inventors over time: Factors affecting female Inventors’ innovation performance," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).
    18. Shen, Hongquan & Xie, Juan & Ao, Weiyi & Cheng, Ying, 2022. "The continuity and citation impact of scientific collaboration with different gender composition," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).
    19. , Aisdl, 2021. "Top economics universities and research institutions in Vietnam: evidence from the SSHPA dataset," OSF Preprints xvnkj, Center for Open Science.
    20. Margaret E. Roberts & Brandon M. Stewart & Richard A. Nielsen, 2020. "Adjusting for Confounding with Text Matching," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 887-903, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:48:y:2024:i:5:s0308596124000314. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.