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Does a gender-neutral name associate with the research impact of a scientist?

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Ning
  • He, Guangye
  • Shi, Dongbo
  • Zhao, Zhenyue
  • Li, Jiang

Abstract

Women have long suffered in both academia and industry from lower status, underrepresentation, unequal treatment, and other challenges based on gender. This paper explores whether a gender-neutral name is associated with the research impact of a scientist by examining three years of citations. The data for this study are derived from publications indexed in ISI's Web of Science (WoS) database from 2009 to 2015. By assigning a name neutralization index score to each author, we investigate the relationship between the neutralization index and citations and find the following results: (1) generally, the more neutral the name, the more citations the publications received; (2) the neutral effect was more pronounced for authors with feminine names than for authors with masculine names.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:16:y:2022:i:1:s1751157722000037
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2022.101251
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