TY - JOUR

T1 - Gender inequality and research performance

T2 - moving beyond individual-meritocratic explanations of academic advancement

AU - Nielsen, Mathias Wullum

PY - 2016/11/1

Y1 - 2016/11/1

N2 - Academic debates addressing the persistent gender gap in science reveal considerable contestation of the relevance and extent of the problem. Particular attention has been given to the question of whether women's high attrition rates should be ascribed to the structural and cultural barriers inherent to the academic system or instead individualistic matters, such as personal motivation, performance and merit. In order to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of this particular issue, this cross-sectional bibliometric study investigates the link between gender and research performance in the Danish context. More specifically, it compares the citation and self-citation rates, source normalized impact per publication scores and collaborative patterns of 3293 male and female researchers at a Danish university and provides evidence challenging the widespread assumption of a persistent performance gap in favour of male researchers. The result has implications for research organizations and managers, as it raises concerns about the validity of individual-meritocratic explanations of the skewed gender distributions in academia.

AB - Academic debates addressing the persistent gender gap in science reveal considerable contestation of the relevance and extent of the problem. Particular attention has been given to the question of whether women's high attrition rates should be ascribed to the structural and cultural barriers inherent to the academic system or instead individualistic matters, such as personal motivation, performance and merit. In order to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of this particular issue, this cross-sectional bibliometric study investigates the link between gender and research performance in the Danish context. More specifically, it compares the citation and self-citation rates, source normalized impact per publication scores and collaborative patterns of 3293 male and female researchers at a Danish university and provides evidence challenging the widespread assumption of a persistent performance gap in favour of male researchers. The result has implications for research organizations and managers, as it raises concerns about the validity of individual-meritocratic explanations of the skewed gender distributions in academia.

KW - bibliometrics

KW - citation analysis

KW - meritocracy

KW - perceptions of inequality

KW - scientific performance

KW - women in science

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923268451&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/03075079.2015.1007945

DO - 10.1080/03075079.2015.1007945

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84923268451

VL - 41

SP - 2044

EP - 2060

JO - Studies in Higher Education

JF - Studies in Higher Education

SN - 0307-5079

IS - 11

ER -