4 Tips for Female Academic Authors

Overcome Publication Perils for Women in Higher Education

Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex. -- Karl Marx

ProQuest's citation counter, an indicator of relevance. Who is citing you?

As we take the time this week to focus on the virtue of strength, as well as the power of women, let’s look at one specific area affecting prestige and promotion within higher education: publication in academic journals. Last spring, Kelly Baker, a columnist at Chronicle Vitae, explored the gender gap in scholarly publication with her article Are You Reading Enough Academic Women? Within the article, Baker discussed the JSTOR gender study conducted by the University of Washington’s Bergstrom Lab, a study that examined data for scholarly article publication from 1665 to 2011. According to the research, while women are outpacing men at earning terminal degrees, females authored only 26% of all single-authored papers published between 1990 and 2011. 

There are many possible reasons for the disparity in the publication rates of men and women. One professor of International Relations, B. F. Walter, shared her opinions with Erik Voeten of the Washington Post. Walter mused, “One could, for example, argue that women are failing to rise through the ranks of elite universities because they are less productive, publish in less prestigious journals, choose topics that are less central to core debates, or because they are more likely to choose to teach at liberal arts colleges” (para. 4). So, the disparity in publication numbers may be partially due to the choices women make within their professional fields rather than solely due to implicit bias or gender discrimination within academia. 

In an effort to take the Bergstrom Lab study further, Walter, along with two male colleagues, explored the actual citation rates of females versus males in over 3000 International Relations publications. (Examine the study for yourself here.) What they found was that female scholars tended to cite themselves less often than males do, and that men tended to cite work by other male authors more often than that by females. 

How can we improve these disturbing statistics?

These four tips were provided to combat biases and improve female publication and citation rates:

• Use your initials and last name only when submitting an article for publication to deter bias within the selection process.

• Cite your own work!

• Ensure the syllabi and bibliographies you construct and use have a gender balance.

• Read more articles by women in your field. If you do not find many, begin to bridge the gap with your own work. 

Let’s all, male and female, take these steps today to help improve the standing and influence of women within academia. 

Until tomorrow,

Melynda

@Melynda_Conner

#TCBHigherEd

References:

Voten, E. (2013, Oct. 1). How to reduce the gender gap in one (relatively easy) step. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2013/10/01/how-to-reduce-the-gender-gap-in-one-relatively-easy-step/

 

Wilson, R. (2012, Oct. 22). Scholarly publishing’s gender gap. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/The-Hard-Numbers-Behind/135236/