The scholarly impact of articles published by men and women in psychology journals

In considering whether men and women produce research of equal quality, it needs to be asked not whether similar numbers of important contributions come from men and women (since numerically there have been more men than women among researchers), but whether the proportion of women active in research who make important contributions is the same as the proportion of men active in research who make important contributions. A search of entries in the 1985 edition ofSocial Sciences Citation Index located 564 articles from psychology journals which had attracted 15 or more citations. The sex ratio among senior authors of these high-impact articles was compared with the sex-ratio among senior authors of low-impact articles published in the same journals. The majority of high-impact articles had been published by men, but so had most low-impact articles. When allowance was made for the different numerical representation of the two sexes among authors, there was no evidence that men and women differ in terms of the impact of articles they publish. The results are discussed in the context of methodological issues in evaluation of sex differences in scientific performance, as well as with reference to the limited recognition that women so far have gained for research achievement in psychology.

[1]  Margaret W. Rossiter,et al.  Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940 , 1984 .

[2]  Gender differences in productivity and impact. , 1982 .

[3]  S. Oskamp,et al.  The Changing Face of American Psychology: A Report from the Committee on Employment and Human Resources. , 1986 .

[4]  Dean Keith Simonton,et al.  Genius, Creativity, and Leadership: Historiometric Inquiries , 1984 .

[5]  E. Boring,et al.  Important psychologists, 1600–1967 , 1968 .

[6]  R. Over.  Research productivity and impact of male and female psychologists. , 1982, The American psychologist.

[7]  P. Carroll.  A Century of Doctorates: Data Analyses of Growth and Change: U. S. PhD's--Their Numbers, Origins, Characteristics, and the Institutions from Which They Come. National Research Council, Lindsey R. Harmon , 1980 .

[8]  Louis C. Buffardi,et al.  Citation impact, acceptance rate, and APA journals. , 1981 .

[9]  H. Astin.  Employment and career status of women psychologists. , 1972 .

[10]  Margaret W. Rossiter,et al.  Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940 , 1983 .

[11]  Jonathan R. Cole,et al.  Fair Science: Women in the Scientific Community. , 1982 .

[12]  R. S. Albert,et al.  Toward a behavioral definition of genius. , 1975, The American psychologist.

[13]  Robert L. Helmreich,et al.  Making it in academic psychology: Demographic and personality correlates of attainment. , 1980 .

[14]  D. Simonton,et al.  Age and outstanding achievement: what do we know after a century of research? , 1988, Psychological bulletin.

[15]  R. Over,et al.  Affiliations of psychologists elected to the National Academy of Sciences. , 1981 .