Race and gender homophily in collaborations and citations

Scientific Conference (2022, October 09)

Applying an Intersectional Lens to Author Composition at Women’s Colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic Serving Institutions in the United States

Scientific Conference (2022, September 07)

Intersectional Inequalities in Science

in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2022), 119(2), 2113067119

The US scientific workforce is primarily composed of White men. Studies have demonstrated the systemic barriers preventing women and other minoritized populations from gaining entry to science; few ... [more ▼]

The US scientific workforce is primarily composed of White men. Studies have demonstrated the systemic barriers preventing women and other minoritized populations from gaining entry to science; few, however, have taken an intersectional perspective and examined the consequences of these inequalities on scientific knowledge. We provide a large-scale bibliometric analysis of the relationship between intersectional identities, topics, and scientific impact. We find homophily between identities and topic, suggesting a relationship between diversity in the scientific workforce and expansion of the knowledge base. However, topic selection comes at a cost to minoritized individuals for whom we observe both between- and within-topic citation disadvantages. To enhance the robustness of science, research organizations should provide adequate resources to historically underfunded research areas while simultaneously providing access for minoritized individuals into high-prestige networks and topics. [less ▲]