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Gender imbalances among top-cited scientists across scientific disciplines over time through the analysis of nearly 5.8 million authors

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  • John P A Ioannidis
  • Kevin W Boyack
  • Thomas A Collins
  • Jeroen Baas

Abstract

We evaluated how the gender composition of top-cited authors within different subfields of research has evolved over time. We considered 9,071,122 authors with at least 5 full papers in Scopus as of September 1, 2022. Using a previously validated composite citation indicator, we identified the 2% top-cited authors for each of 174 science subfields (Science-Metrix classification) in 4 separate publication age cohorts (first publication pre-1992, 1992 to 2001, 2002 to 2011, and post-2011). Using NamSor, we assigned 3,784,507 authors as men and 2,011,616 as women (for 36.1% gender assignment uncertain). Men outnumbered women 1.88-fold among all authors, decreasing from 3.93-fold to 1.36-fold over time. Men outnumbered women 3.21-fold among top-cited authors, decreasing from 6.41-fold to 2.28-fold over time. In the youngest (post-2011) cohort, 32/174 (18%) subfields had > = 50% women, 97/174 (56%) subfields had > = 30% women, and 3 subfields had =

Suggested Citation

  • John P A Ioannidis & Kevin W Boyack & Thomas A Collins & Jeroen Baas, 2023. "Gender imbalances among top-cited scientists across scientific disciplines over time through the analysis of nearly 5.8 million authors," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 21(11), pages 1-14, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pbio00:3002385
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002385
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vincent Larivière & Chaoqun Ni & Yves Gingras & Blaise Cronin & Cassidy R. Sugimoto, 2013. "Bibliometrics: Global gender disparities in science," Nature, Nature, vol. 504(7479), pages 211-213, December.
    2. Diego Kozlowski & Vincent Larivière & Cassidy R. Sugimoto & Thema Monroe-White, 2022. "Intersectional inequalities in science," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(2), pages 2113067119-, January.
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