Study of biologists quitting academia reveals hidden gender gaps

Even in fields in which women are well represented, they are up to 40% more likely than men to leave research within 20 years

Publishing records provide information about the lengths of scientists’ careers in academia. Credit: Nickbeer/Getty

Female scientists are quitting academic publishing earlier than their male counterparts, even in biological-science disciplines that have roughly equal representation.

A study tracked the scholarly publications of more than 86,000 scientists in 38 countries working in neuroscience, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, immunology, microbiology and agriculture — disciplines known for having high numbers of women. The results show that, 19 years after publishing their first paper, only 26% of female researchers in these fields continue their publishing careers, compared with 36% of men.

“It’s very easy to assume that science is going to change organically towards equality — and what this study shows is that that’s not happening,” says Cassidy Sugimoto, an information scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It is an “important reminder for us that we need to stay vigilant in working towards equality in science”, she adds.

The results of the study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, were posted to the bioRxiv preprint server on 16 December¹.

Gender gaps

Academic-career researcher Marek Kwiek and computer scientist Lukasz Szymula, both at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, tracked the academic-publishing careers of two groups of biologists: 34,970 who started publishing in 2000, and 51,208 who started publishing in 2010. “We wanted to have a closer look at those areas where women are already well represented,” says Kwiek.

Almost 46% of the 2000 group and 52% of the 2010 group were women — but despite this balanced representation, men were more likely to remain in their publishing careers. In biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology and neuroscience, men were 40% more likely than women to continue publishing 19 years after publishing their first paper. In immunology, microbiology and agriculture, the gap was smaller, with men being 16–20% more likely than women to still be publishing after 19 years (see ‘Leaving science’). “Gender parity or gender balance does not really guarantee equal chances of survival in science,” says Kwiek.