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Citation gender gaps in top economics journals

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Abstract

This paper investigates the existence and drivers of gender citation gaps in the five leading journals in economics. Using a comprehensive dataset of 7,244 articles published between 1999 and 2023, we examine whether female-authored papers are cited more frequently than male-authored ones, and whether this pattern persists after controlling for differences in research topics. We apply Structural Topic Modeling (STM) to abstracts to estimate latent research themes and complement this approach with field classifications based on JEL codes. Our results show that female-authored papers initially display a citation premium—receiving up to 16 log points more citations—but this advantage becomes statistically insignificant once we control for research field composition using either STM topics or JEL codes. These findings suggest that horizontal gender differences in thematic specialization, rather than bias in citation behavior, account for most of the observed citation gap. Our analysis highlights the importance of accounting for field heterogeneity when assessing academic recognition and contributes to ongoing discussions about fairness and diversity in economics publishing.

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  • J.Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Miguel Díaz Salazar & Juan José Ganuza & Manu García, 2025. "Citation gender gaps in top economics journals," Economics Working Papers 1923, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:1923
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    1. J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Juan-José Ganuza & Manu García & Luis A. Puch, 2022. "Gender distribution across topics in the top five economics journals: a machine learning approach," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 269-308, May.
    2. Christian Zimmermann, 2013. "Academic Rankings with RePEc," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-32, December.
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    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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