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A Fresh Look at the Publication and Citation Gap Between Men and Women: Insights from Economics and Political Science

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  • Daniel Stockemer
  • Gabriela Galassi
  • Engi Abou-El-Kheir

Abstract

In recent years, significant efforts have been made to attract more women into academia and to support their careers, with the goal of increasing their representation. Using novel data for economics and political science, collected through web-scraping the corresponding departments of the top 50 universities worldwide, we document three key findings: (i) female scholars, on average, publish less and receive fewer citations than their male counterparts; (ii) this gap is smaller at junior ranks in both disciplines; and (iii) the gap decreases in departments with a higher proportion of female scholars, particularly in political science, where female faculty representation is generally higher compared to economics. Gaps do not differ significantly by field in economics, where a substantial proportion of women are concentrated in microeconomic subfields. Overall, our results underscore a persistent publication and citation gap between men and women in both disciplines, primarily driven by full professors, while suggesting that this gap diminishes in departments with greater sex balance among faculty.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Stockemer & Gabriela Galassi & Engi Abou-El-Kheir, 2025. "A Fresh Look at the Publication and Citation Gap Between Men and Women: Insights from Economics and Political Science," Staff Working Papers 25-13, Bank of Canada.
  • Handle: RePEc:bca:bocawp:25-13
    DOI: 10.34989/swp-2025-13
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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations

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