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Gender-diverse teams produce more novel and higher-impact scientific ideas

Author

Listed:
  • Yang Yang

    (a Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556;; b Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems and Data Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208;; c Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556;)

  • Tanya Y. Tian

    (d New York University Shanghai, New York University, Shanghai, China;)

  • Teresa K. Woodruff

    (e Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MN 48824;)

  • Benjamin F. Jones

    (f Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208;; g National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA 02138;)

  • Brian Uzzi

    (b Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems and Data Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208;; f Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208;; h The McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208)

Abstract

Science teams made up of men and women produce papers that are more novel and highly cited than those of all-men or all-women teams. These performance advantages increase the greater the team's gender balance and appear nearly universal. On average, they hold for small and large teams, the 45 subfields of medicine, and women- or men-led teams and generalize to published papers in all science fields over the last 20 y. Notwithstanding these benefits, gender-diverse teams remain underrepresented in science when compared to what is expected if the teams in the data had been formed without regard to gender. These findings reveal potentially new gender and teamwork synergies that correlate with scientific discoveries and inform diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang Yang & Tanya Y. Tian & Teresa K. Woodruff & Benjamin F. Jones & Brian Uzzi, 2022. "Gender-diverse teams produce more novel and higher-impact scientific ideas," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(36), pages 2200841119-, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:119:y:2022:p:e2200841119
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhou, Sifan & Chai, Sen & Freeman, Richard B., 2024. "Gender homophily: In-group citation preferences and the gender disadvantage," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    2. Guo, Liying & Wang, Yang & Li, Meiling, 2024. "Exploration, exploitation and funding success: Evidence from junior scientists supported by the Chinese Young Scientists Fund," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    3. Yue Wang & Ning Li & Bin Zhang & Qian Huang & Jian Wu & Yang Wang, 2023. "The effect of structural holes on producing novel and disruptive research in physics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(3), pages 1801-1823, March.
    4. Zhang, Ming-Ze & Wang, Tang-Rong & Lyu, Peng-Hui & Chen, Qi-Mei & Li, Ze-Xia & Ngai, Eric W.T., 2024. "Impact of gender composition of academic teams on disruptive output," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    5. Chen, Wei & Yan, Yan, 2023. "New components and combinations: The perspective of the internal collaboration networks of scientific teams," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    6. Nakajima, Kazuki & Liu, Ruodan & Shudo, Kazuyuki & Masuda, Naoki, 2023. "Quantifying gender imbalance in East Asian academia: Research career and citation practice," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4).
    7. Zhang, Yang & Wang, Yang & Du, Haifeng & Havlin, Shlomo, 2024. "Delayed citation impact of interdisciplinary research," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1).

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