Welcome to the website of the CGC project. Here you can find information about the latest developments with regards to our work.
In science, the number of citations of an article is considered a measure of the impact of a researcher. A structural gender citation gap (GCG) would lead to a career disadvantage for female researchers, as they would receive fewer citations for the same publication quality as men. In this project, we take a comprehensive perspective on the GCG in international political science. Although the importance of citations is high, there is little research on GCG in political science. Previous study results are mixed, finding both evidence for the existence of a GCG and its absence.
Against this background, the project makes four contributions. First, empirically, we aim for a larger data base in order to arrive at broader findings and, for example, to analyse differences over time. Second, we formulate hypotheses about causes of CGC and translate them into causal models (directed acyclic graphs, DAGs). This increases the transparency of the theory and allows us to derive specific identification assumptions and corresponding statistical models. Third, we use design-based approaches to estimate specific publication-related effects on the CGC. We investigate the extent to which differences in word count or page count limitations negatively affect the citations that women receive. Fourth, based on theoretical considerations and the statistical findings, we employ simulation analyses. The goal is simulation-based insights into how short-term, easy-to-implement editorial measures affect CGC in a complex system like publishing. From the interaction of the findings, practical recommendations for editors can be derived to reduce career disadvantages for women.
We will use the present website to provide updates about the project’s progress as well as interesting findings, data and observations we discover throughout the project. If you have any questions about the projects you can reach us via our email. You can also receive updates about the project or reach us directly via our Twitter and Instagram accounts.
