Are Women Properly Represented in Scientific Publication and Research? Interim Results from a Spanish Case Study in Earth Sciences

In 2015 there still are gender disparities in Science. These are reflected in different aspects of science such as the comparatively few major research projects led by women and relatively low numbers of women as authors in major publications (even fewer as first or last author). Much work has been published on this issue, concluding that only around 30% of science authors are women, and although more research is needed, it is clear that the pipeline from junior to senior positions leaks female scientists. Most decision boards have an exclusive male composition and there is a need to study whether this affects the result of any selection based on the peer-review process. The unbalanced composition includes editorial boards of major journals. This article investigates this and other unbalanced situations to understand the extent to which citation and publication patterns differ between men and women in science in general and in earth sciences in particular, and the negative impacts of some widely used indices that can bias the research output from a gender perspective. We conclude that men are more published and more cited than women due to a number of factors, from the lack of awareness of the value of gender equity to the overwhelming masculine presence on editorial boards and manuscript reviewers and to an overall weak network of female scientists