Despite efforts to diversify the scientific workforce, women and scholars of color remain underrepresented in R&D careers. This research attempts to understand the extent of these disparities, the mechanisms that mitigate them, and the implications for early career researchers as well as the scientific system. Data are drawn from a variety of sources, including self-reported gender, race/ethnicity, and citizenship status of respondents to the National Center for Sciences and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) and Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), publication metadata from the Web of Science, and international surveys conducted by the authors. In examining the doctoral workforce, we find that (1) women and minoritized populations are underrepresented among doctoral recipients and in scholarly production; (2) doctoral graduates with scholarly production are more likely to obtain careers in R&D; (3) doctoral candidates with research assistantship positions are more likely to obtain a pre-PhD publication; and, (4) minoritized populations are less likely to receive a research assistantship position, when accounting for all relevant variables. Our analysis of the topical space of production demonstrates clear along lines of gender and race in what is studied. Women are far more likely to incorporate female populations into their research and to take sex into account as an analytical variable. Similarly, minoritized populations demonstrate preferences for topics related to their sociodemographic characteristics. Lastly, our analysis of authorship demonstrates that women are more likely to experience ethical authorship disputes and to experience them more often. Taken together, these analyses that funding and authorship creates clear path dependencies that perpetuate disparities in the scientific workforce and in science.

Gender and racial disparities in scholarly production and their implications for early career researchers

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.