Language, economic and gender disparities widen the scientific productivity gap

Scientific communities need to understand and eliminate barriers that prevent people with diverse backgrounds from contributing to and participating in science. However, the combined impact of individuals' linguistic, economic, and gender backgrounds on their scientific productivity is poorly understood. Using a survey of 908 environmental scientists, we show that being a woman is associated with up to a 45% reduction in the number of English-language publications, compared to men. Being a woman, a non-native English speaker, and from a low-income country is associated with up to a 70% reduction, compared to male native English speakers from a high-income country. The linguistic and economic productivity gap narrows when based on the total number of English- and non-English-language publications. We call for an explicit effort to consider linguistic, economic, and gender backgrounds and incorporate non-English-language publications when assessing the performance and contribution of scientists.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
PLoS Biology
Published
2025-09-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003372
Citations
6
Primary Topic
scientometrics and bibliometrics research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
8.39
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Language, economic and gender disparities widen the scientific productivity gap

Violeta Berdejo‐Espinola, Valeria Ramírez‐Castañeda, Tatsuya Amano, Marina Golivets et al.
6 citations
PLoS Biology
scientometrics and bibliometrics research
8.39
article

Language, economic and gender disparities widen the scientific productivity gap

Violeta Berdejo‐Espinola, Valeria Ramírez‐Castañeda, Tatsuya Amano, Marina Golivets, Juan David González‐Trujillo, Flavia A. Montaño‐Centellas, Rachel L. White, Shawan Chowdhury, Kumar Paudel, Israel Borokini, Diogo Veríssimo
article en
6 citations

Abstract

Scientific communities need to understand and eliminate barriers that prevent people with diverse backgrounds from contributing to and participating in science. However, the combined impact of individuals' linguistic, economic, and gender backgrounds on their scientific productivity is poorly understood. Using a survey of 908 environmental scientists, we show that being a woman is associated with up to a 45% reduction in the number of English-language publications, compared to men. Being a woman, a non-native English speaker, and from a low-income country is associated with up to a 70% reduction, compared to male native English speakers from a high-income country. The linguistic and economic productivity gap narrows when based on the total number of English- and non-English-language publications. We call for an explicit effort to consider linguistic, economic, and gender backgrounds and incorporate non-English-language publications when assessing the performance and contribution of scientists.

PLoS BiologyVol. 23(9)
Louisiana State University (US), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (BO), Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (US), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), The University of Queensland (AU), Montana State University (US), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (CO), University of Oxford (GB), Monash University (AU), University of Brighton (GB), University of California, Berkeley (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
scientometrics and bibliometrics research
8.39
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.