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Scientific production in psychology: a gender analysis

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Abstract

This study aims to identify possible gender inequalities in the scholarly output of researchers in the field of psychology in Spain. A sample of 522 papers and reviews published in 2007 was extracted from the Thomson ISI Web of Science. The presence of women, the collaboration pattern and the impact of these scientific publications were analyzed. The results show that the average number of female researchers per paper was 0.42 (SD 0.33) and that 42.3 % of the papers had a female researcher as the first author. Moreover, the proportion of female authors of a paper was statistically significantly higher when the first author was female. Studies carried out in cooperation with other Spanish or international institutions had fewer female authors than studies conducted at a single center. The impact of the papers, measured by the journal impact factor and the number of citations, was independent of the authors’ gender or the proportion of female authors. In summary, the study highlights a gender imbalance in Spanish scientific output in Psychology, and a higher proportion of male researchers in international networks.

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Acknowledgments

The research reported here was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (EA2008-0221).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Methodology of Behavioral Sciences, University of Barcelona, Melcior de Palau, 140, 08014, Barcelona, Spain

    Maite Barrios

  2. Department of Public Economy, Political Economy and Spanish Economy, University of Barcelona, 08014, Barcelona, Spain

    Anna Villarroya

  3. Department of Library and Information Science, University of Barcelona, 08014, Barcelona, Spain

    Ángel Borrego

Authors
  1. Maite Barrios
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  2. Anna Villarroya
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  3. Ángel Borrego
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Correspondence to Maite Barrios.

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Barrios, M., Villarroya, A. & Borrego, Á. Scientific production in psychology: a gender analysis. Scientometrics 95, 15–23 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-012-0816-4

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