Gender inequities in the online dissemination of scholars’ work

Orsolya Vásárhelyi, Igor Zakhlebin, Staša Milojević and Emőke-Ágnes Horvát ()
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Orsolya Vásárhelyi: Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom; Laboratory for Networks, Technology and Innovation, Centre for Advanced Studies, Corvinus University, Budapest 1093, Hungary
Igor Zakhlebin: Department of Communication Studies, School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208
Staša Milojević: Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47408
Emőke-Ágnes Horvát: Department of Communication Studies, School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208; Department of Computer Science, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208; Northwestern University Institute on Complex Systems, Evanston, IL 60208

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, vol. 118, issue 39, e2102945118

Abstract: Unbiased science dissemination has the potential to alleviate some of the known gender disparities in academia by exposing female scholars’ work to other scientists and the public. And yet, we lack comprehensive understanding of the relationship between gender and science dissemination online. Our large-scale analyses, encompassing half a million scholars, revealed that female scholars’ work is mentioned less frequently than male scholars’ work in all research areas. When exploring the characteristics associated with online success, we found that the impact of prior work, social capital, and gendered tie formation in coauthorship networks are linked with online success for men, but not for women—even in the areas with the highest female representation. These results suggest that while men’s scientific impact and collaboration networks are associated with higher visibility online, there are no universally identifiable facets associated with success for women. Our comprehensive empirical evidence indicates that the gender gap in online science dissemination is coupled with a lack of understanding the characteristics that are linked with female scholars’ success, which might hinder efforts to close the gender gap in visibility.

Keywords: gender inequality; scholarly communication; social networks; STEM; computational social science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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