Work

Authors’ gender and productivity as predictors of reciprocal dynamics in publications and citations in communication

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Gender bias in academic publishing and citation practices in communication has been discussed extensively, yet the link between the two remains poorly understood. Does an author who publishes more articles automatically get cited more frequently—and what are the underlying author-level individual (e.g., gender, productivity) and article-level systemic (e.g., journal prestige) factors? We analyzed 57,283 articles and 507,706 citations from 85 communication journals between 2000 and 2022. We show that the number of publications significantly influences the number of citations. However, this dynamic does not benefit men and women equally: Although women publish more articles than men, women are cited less often than men. Journal prestige does not play a role. We argue that individual factors must be addressed through systemic change to close the gender publication–citation gap and foster fair academic recognition.

Source: Annals of the International Communication Association

DOI: 10.1093/anncom/wlaf023

Authors: Astrid Jansen, Sabine Trepte, Michael Scharkow

Institutions: University of Hohenheim, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Language: English

Topic: scientometrics and bibliometrics research

Subfield: Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,368