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.

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.

2017, Kasprzik, Anna

Based on the project activities planned in the context of the Specialized Information Service for Mathematics (TIB Hannover, FAU Erlangen, L3S, SUB Göttingen) we give an overview over the history and interplay of subject cataloguing in libraries, the development of computerized methods for metadata processing and the rise of the Semantic Web. We survey various knowledge organization systems such as the Mathematics Subject Classification, the German Authority File, the clustering International Authority File VIAF, and lexical databases such as WordNet and their potential use for mathematics in education and research. We briefly address the difference between thesauri and ontologies and the relations they typically contain from a linguistic perspective. We will then discuss with the audience how the current efforts to represent and handle mathematical theories as semantic objects can help deflect the decline of semantic resource annotation in libraries that has been predicted by some due to the existence of highly performant retrieval algorithms (based on statistical, neuronal, or other big data methods). We will also explore the potential characteristics of a fruitful symbiosis between carefully cultivated kernels of semantic structure and automated methods in order to scale those structures up to the level that is necessary in order to cope with the amounts of digital data found in libraries and in (mathematical) research (e.g., in simulations) today.