Contagion of disrespect: Is there an inverse relation between gender parity and citation impact?

In a recent paper, Wong and Rubin (2024) introduce the concept of “contagion of disrespect”, where the presence of marginalized groups in research fields increases dismissal of research in such fields. In this ongoing study we explore this hypothesis in the case of the gender gap in science. Our objective is to determine whether this phenomenon is supported by quantitative evidence and identify specific topics for further qualitative analysis. We use a dataset of 46,565,404 publications linked to 26,003,448 authors from OpenAlex and apply a gender assignment algorithm based on open data sources. Here we present some preliminary findings based on visualization techniques, laying the groundwork for a more comprehensive exploration of gendered dynamics in scientific recognition. We aim at expanding our study introducing inferential and causal analysis to explore the impact of “contagion of disrespect” on gender inequalities in the scientific system.