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Gender Differences in Publication Output: Towards an Unbiased Metric of Research Performance

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  • Matthew RE Symonds
  • Neil J Gemmell
  • Tamsin L Braisher
  • Kylie L Gorringe
  • Mark A Elgar

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew RE Symonds & Neil J Gemmell & Tamsin L Braisher & Kylie L Gorringe & Mark A Elgar, 2006. "Gender Differences in Publication Output: Towards an Unbiased Metric of Research Performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 1(1), pages 1-5, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0000127
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000127
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Philip Ball, 2005. "Index aims for fair ranking of scientists," Nature, Nature, vol. 436(7053), pages 900-900, August.
    2. Christine Wennerås & Agnes Wold, 1997. "Nepotism and sexism in peer-review," Nature, Nature, vol. 387(6631), pages 341-343, May.
    3. Ben A. Barres, 2006. "Does gender matter?," Nature, Nature, vol. 442(7099), pages 133-136, July.
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