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    The effect of gender in the publication patterns in mathematics
    (San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science, 2016) Mihaljević-Brandt, Helena; Santamaría, Lucía; Tullney, Marco
    Despite the increasing number of women graduating in mathematics, a systemic gender imbalance persists and is signified by a pronounced gender gap in the distribution of active researchers and professors. Especially at the level of university faculty, women mathematicians continue being drastically underrepresented, decades after the first affirmative action measures have been put into place. A solid publication record is of paramount importance for securing permanent positions. Thus, the question arises whether the publication patterns of men and women mathematicians differ in a significant way. Making use of the zbMATH database, one of the most comprehensive metadata sources on mathematical publications, we analyze the scholarly output of ∼150,000 mathematicians from the past four decades whose gender we algorithmically inferred. We focus on development over time, collaboration through coautorships, presumed journal quality and distribution of research topics—factors known to have a strong impact on job perspectives. We report significant differences between genders which may put women at a disadvantage when pursuing an academic career in mathematics.
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    Reflections on Gender Analyses of Bibliographic Corpora
    (Lausanne : Frontiers Media, 2019) Mihaljević, Helena; Tullney, Marco; Santamaría, Lucía; Steinfeldt, Christian
    The interplay between an academic's gender and their scholarly output is a riveting topic at the intersection of scientometrics, data science, gender studies, and sociology. Its effects can be studied to analyze the role of gender in research productivity, tenure and promotion standards, collaboration and networks, or scientific impact, among others. The typical methodology in this field of research is based on a number of assumptions that are customarily not discussed in detail in the relevant literature, but undoubtedly merit a critical examination. Presumably the most confronting aspect is the categorization of gender. An author's gender is typically inferred from their name, further reduced to a binary feature by an algorithmic procedure. This and subsequent data processing steps introduce biases whose effects are hard to estimate. In this report we describe said problems and discuss the reception and interplay of this line of research within the field. We also outline the effect of obstacles, such as non-availability of data and code for transparent communication. Building on our research on gender effects on scientific publications, we challenge the prevailing methodology in the field and offer a critical reflection on some of its flaws and pitfalls. Our observations are meant to open up the discussion around the need and feasibility of more elaborated approaches to tackle gender in conjunction with analyses of bibliographic sources.
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    Publikationen und Gender-Effekte in der Mathematik
    (Zenodo, 2018) Mihaljević, Helena; Santamaría, Lucía; Tullney, Marco
    Die Unterrepräsentation von Frauen in der wissenschaftlichen Mathematik hält trotz steigender Absolventinnenzahlen an. Publikationen sind ein wesentlicher Baustein wissenschaftlicher Karrieren. Deshalb werden sie in unserer Arbeit analysiert. Es werden zentraler Ergebnisse eines Forschungsartikels (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165367) vorgestellt, weitere Forschung angekündigt und schließlich zu einer Diskussion eingeladen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen deutliche Unterschiede beim Publikationsverhalten zwischen Frauen und Männern mit Karrierenachteilen für Frauen. Die Geschlechterzuschreibung erfolgte algorithmisch auf Basis von Einträgen in zbMATH.