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Gender gaps in scientific performance: a longitudinal matching study of health sciences researchers

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Abstract

The existence of gender disparities in academia is well documented. Many explanations have been proposed and productivity is one of the most used variables to explain a possible correlation between gender and differences in academic rank or leadership positions. The literature on the existence of a productivity gender gap is inconclusive which may due to the variety of study designs. This article presents the results of a longitudinal bibliometric study of health science researchers controlling for sub-disciplinary affiliation, education, year of enrollment and age. The productivity and impact of the researchers are analyzed during a 16-year period. We find no or little difference in productivity or impact among the group of health sciences researchers from the time of enrollment in the Ph.D. program and 10 years beyond, and women outperform men in some cases. There are negligible differences in productivity and impact prior to enrollment. The implications of the findings are discussed.

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tove Faber Frandsen.

Appendix: Data tables for Figs. 1, 2, and 3

Appendix: Data tables for Figs. 1, 2, and 3

This appendix contains five tables containing the data points in the figures and the T-tests carried out to examine whether any gender differences were statistically significant.

Data points and T-tests for total number of publications

Year

Men

Women

T-test

P-value

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

− 5

0.011

0.057

0.005

0.032

0.809

0.420

− 4

0.032

0.135

0.000

0.000

2.042

0.043**

− 3

0.025

0.097

0.004

0.022

1.814

0.072*

− 2

0.044

0.120

0.034

0.124

0.506

0.613

− 1

0.062

0.170

0.038

0.118

1.357

0.177

0

0.100

0.216

0.078

0.219

0.604

0.547

1

0.168

0.280

0.083

0.179

2.275

0.024**

2

0.214

0.404

0.142

0.235

1.416

0.159

3

0.352

0.405

0.260

0.360

1.443

0.151

4

0.356

0.470

0.353

0.614

0.029

0.977

5

0.327

0.408

0.366

0.487

0.467

0.641

6

0.306

0.403

0.382

0.690

0.794

0.428

7

0.314

0.451

0.343

0.510

0.336

0.738

8

0.387

0.550

0.323

0.588

0.745

0.457

9

0.257

0.405

0.367

0.783

1.078

0.283

10

0.294

0.657

0.417

0.976

0.891

0.375

  1. T-tests were carried out as standard two-tailed tests for equal sample size and equal variance as the expected variances of the two samples a priori were the same. Asterisks (*) denote values that are statistically significant at a 5% significance level

Data points and T-tests for journal articles published

Year

Men

Women

T-test

P-value

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

− 5

0.011

0.057

0.000

0.000

1.687

0.094*

− 4

0.027

0.130

0.000

0.000

1.818

0.071*

− 3

0.015

0.085

0.000

0.000

1.519

0.131

− 2

0.034

0.103

0.018

0.077

1.062

0.290

− 1

0.034

0.138

0.021

0.086

0.959

0.339

0

0.038

0.130

0.039

0.129

0.041

0.968

1

0.070

0.132

0.028

0.085

2.449

0.016**

2

0.110

0.193

0.074

0.157

1.291

0.199

3

0.164

0.243

0.132

0.230

0.822

0.413

4

0.219

0.310

0.178

0.231

0.925

0.357

5

0.201

0.244

0.196

0.242

0.236

0.814

6

0.206

0.236

0.203

0.279

0.137

0.891

7

0.215

0.379

0.228

0.323

0.175

0.861

8

0.205

0.310

0.182

0.289

0.552

0.581

9

0.168

0.243

0.171

0.284

0.049

0.961

10

0.167

0.265

0.189

0.285

0.477

0.634

  1. T-tests were carried out as standard two-tailed tests for equal sample size and equal variance as the expected variances of the two samples a priori were the same. Asterisks (*) denote values that are statistically significant at a 5% significance level

Data points and T-tests for reviews published

Year

Men

Women

T-test

P-value

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

− 5

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

  

− 4

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

  

− 3

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

  

− 2

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

  

− 1

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

  

0

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

  

1

0.045

0.156

0.015

0.083

1.455

0.148

2

0.007

0.058

0.005

0.039

0.277

0.782

3

0.010

0.050

0.008

0.048

0.280

0.780

4

0.005

0.039

0.016

0.080

1.089

0.278

5

0.015

0.075

0.004

0.024

1.208

0.229

6

0.000

0.000

0.017

0.123

1.174

0.242

7

0.007

0.058

0.013

0.056

0.657

0.512

8

0.015

0.075

0.019

0.086

0.291

0.772

9

0.021

0.086

0.024

0.096

0.217

0.829

10

0.019

0.076

0.030

0.106

0.745

0.457

  1. T-tests were carried out as standard two-tailed tests for equal sample size and equal variance as the expected variances of the two samples a priori were the same. Asterisks (*) denote values that are statistically significant at a 5% significance level

Data points and T-tests for other publications published

Year

Men

Women

T-test

P-value

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

− 5

0.000

0.000

0.005

0.032

1.349

0.179

− 4

0.005

0.039

0.000

0.000

1.000

0.319

− 3

0.009

0.049

0.004

0.022

0.943

0.347

− 2

0.010

0.052

0.016

0.100

0.439

0.661

− 1

0.028

0.108

0.017

0.064

0.948

0.345

0

0.062

0.145

0.039

0.147

0.938

0.350

1

0.053

0.129

0.040

0.101

0.705

0.482

2

0.097

0.250

0.063

0.139

1.122

0.264

3

0.178

0.309

0.120

0.231

1.266

0.207

4

0.132

0.258

0.159

0.512

0.412

0.681

5

0.111

0.249

0.166

0.366

1.065

0.289

6

0.100

0.241

0.163

0.485

0.997

0.320

7

0.093

0.181

0.103

0.284

0.261

0.795

8

0.167

0.312

0.123

0.371

0.822

0.412

9

0.068

0.163

0.173

0.546

1.583

0.116

10

0.108

0.471

0.198

0.765

0.851

0.396

  1. T-tests were carried out as standard two-tailed tests for equal sample size and equal variance as the expected variances of the two samples a priori were the same. Asterisks (*) denote values that are statistically significant at a 5% significance level

Data points and T-tests for citations received

Year

Men

Women

T-test

P-value

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

− 5

0.052

0.311

0.000

0.000

1.434

0.154

− 4

0.188

1.125

0.000

0.000

1.439

0.152

− 3

0.130

0.654

0.002

0.019

1.686

0.094

− 2

0.298

1.439

0.063

0.342

1.367

0.174

− 1

0.272

1.437

0.287

1.077

0.231

0.817

0

0.363

1.226

0.662

2.470

0.933

0.352

1

0.794

2.148

1.016

7.853

0.230

0.818

2

1.122

3.390

1.164

3.230

0.080

0.936

3

2.397

4.374

2.319

5.286

0.097

0.923

4

4.504

12.137

3.035

4.290

0.981

0.328

5

3.245

4.946

3.714

5.715

0.517

0.606

6

3.314

5.299

3.308

5.797

0.021

0.983

7

2.450

4.134

4.667

8.745

1.968

0.051

8

3.153

7.393

3.242

5.800

0.082

0.935

9

2.004

3.506

2.916

6.545

1.058

0.292

10

1.335

2.711

3.555

7.126

2.463

0.015

  1. T-tests were carried out as standard two-tailed tests for equal sample size and equal variance as the expected variances of the two samples a priori were the same. Asterisks (*) denote values that are statistically significant at a 5% significance level

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Frandsen, T.F., Jacobsen, R.H. & Ousager, J. Gender gaps in scientific performance: a longitudinal matching study of health sciences researchers. Scientometrics 124, 1511–1527 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03528-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03528-z

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