The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gender gap in research productivity within academia

Mennerat, Adele; Dugdale, Hannah L; Čulina, Antica; Lukas, Dieter; Lee, Kiran GL (2023) The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gender gap in research productivity within academia. eLife, 12 . ISSN 2050-084X

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Abstract

Using measures of research productivity to assess academic performance puts women at a disadvantage because gender roles and unconscious biases, operating both at home and in academia, can affect research productivity. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on research productivity has been the subject of a number of studies, including studies based on surveys and studies based on numbers of articles submitted to and/or published in journals. Here, we combine the results of 55 studies that compared the impact of the pandemic on the research productivity of men and women; 17 of the studies were based on surveys, 38 were based on article counts, and the total number of effect sizes was 130. We find that the gender gap in research productivity increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the largest changes occurring in the social sciences and medicine, and the changes in the biological sciences and TEMCP (technology, engineering, mathematics, chemistry and physics) being much smaller.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	COVID-19; gender gap; research productivity; pandemics; gender equality in academia; meta-analysis; research assessment
Subjects:	NATURAL SCIENCES NATURAL SCIENCES > Biology INTERDISCIPLINARY AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE > Gender Studies
Divisions:	Division for Marine and Enviromental Research
Depositing User:	Antica Čulina
Date Deposited:	29 Jan 2024 14:36
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/8252
DOI:	10.7554/eLife.85427

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