Gender and the h-index in epidemiology

Abstract

Gender-Based differences in h-indices across fields, including psychology, social work, and the biomedical sciences have been reported. These differences are persistent across all faculty ranks, including assistant, associate, and full professors, but may be larger for early career and senior faculty. Even with these known biases, the h-index remains a widely used metric of the productivity and impact of research scientists and university faculty. Recently, several studies have drawn attention to the potential for a widening gender gap in academic metrics given the ways in which gendered roles, and thus research productivity, were inequitably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe the association between gender and h-index among a sample of tenured faculty from epidemiology departments in Schools and Programs of Public Health. Gender explained 1.2% of the variance in h-indices; after adjustment for professional age, gender explained only 0.1% of the variance. There was also crossover interaction for professional age and gender, with women having lower h-indices in early career yet overtaking males later. If h-indices are utilized as metrics for promotion and tenure, or as criteria for appointments to leadership or other roles, gender bias will continue to limit early- and mid-career women’s inclusion and advancement.