Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias
Biographical features like social and economic status, ethnicity, sexuality, care roles, and gender unfairly disadvantage individuals within academia. Authorship patterns should reflect the social dimension behind the publishing process and co-authorship dynamics. To detect potential gender biases i...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Plos ONE
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/23372 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0307813 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307813 |
| _version_ | 1855487116432113664 |
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| author | Fontanarrosa, Gabriela Zarbá, Lucía Aschero, Valeria Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés Núñez Montellano, María Gabriela Plaza Behr, Maia C. Schroeder, Natalia Lomáscolo, Silvia Beatriz Fanjul, María Elisa Monmany Garzia, A. Carolina Alvarez, Marisa Novillo, Agustina Lorenzo Pisarello, María José D’Almeida, Romina Elisa Valoy, Mariana Ramírez-Mejía, Andrés Felipe Rodríguez, Daniela Reynaga, Celina Sandoval Salinas, María Leonor Chillo, María Verónica Piquer-Rodríguez, María |
| author_browse | Alvarez, Marisa Aschero, Valeria Chillo, María Verónica Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés D’Almeida, Romina Elisa Fanjul, María Elisa Fontanarrosa, Gabriela Lomáscolo, Silvia Beatriz Lorenzo Pisarello, María José Monmany Garzia, A. Carolina Novillo, Agustina Núñez Montellano, María Gabriela Piquer-Rodríguez, María Plaza Behr, Maia C. Ramírez-Mejía, Andrés Felipe Reynaga, Celina Rodríguez, Daniela Sandoval Salinas, María Leonor Schroeder, Natalia Valoy, Mariana Zarbá, Lucía |
| author_facet | Fontanarrosa, Gabriela Zarbá, Lucía Aschero, Valeria Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés Núñez Montellano, María Gabriela Plaza Behr, Maia C. Schroeder, Natalia Lomáscolo, Silvia Beatriz Fanjul, María Elisa Monmany Garzia, A. Carolina Alvarez, Marisa Novillo, Agustina Lorenzo Pisarello, María José D’Almeida, Romina Elisa Valoy, Mariana Ramírez-Mejía, Andrés Felipe Rodríguez, Daniela Reynaga, Celina Sandoval Salinas, María Leonor Chillo, María Verónica Piquer-Rodríguez, María |
| author_sort | Fontanarrosa, Gabriela |
| collection | INTA Digital |
| description | Biographical features like social and economic status, ethnicity, sexuality, care roles, and gender unfairly disadvantage individuals within academia. Authorship patterns should reflect the social dimension behind the publishing process and co-authorship dynamics. To detect potential gender biases in the authorship of papers and examine the extent of women’s contribution in terms of the substantial volume of scientific production in Ecology, we surveyed papers from the top-ranked journal Ecology from 1999 to 2021. We developed a Women’s Contribution Index (WCI) to measure gender-based individual contributions. Considering gender, allocation in the author list, and the total number of authors, the WCI calculates the sum of each woman’s contribution per paper. We compared the WCI with women’s expected contributions in a non-gender-biased scenario. Overall, women account for 30% of authors of Ecology, yet their contribution to papers is higher than expected by chance (i.e., over-contribution). Additionally, by comparing the WCI with an equivalent Men’s Contribution Index, we found that women consistently have higher contributions compared to men. We also observed a temporal trend of increasing women’s authorship and mixed-gender papers. This suggests some progress in addressing gender bias in the field of ecology. However, we emphasize the need for a better understanding of the pattern of over-contribution, which may partially stem from the phenomenon of over-compensation. In this context, women might need to outperform men to be perceived and evaluated as equals. The WCI provides a valuable tool for quantifying individual contributions and understanding gender biases in academic publishing. Moreover, the index could be customized to suit the specific question of interest. It serves to uncover a previously non-quantified type of bias (over-contribution) that, we argue, is the response to the inequitable structure of the scientific system, leading to differences in the roles of individuals within a scientific publishing team. |
| format | Artículo |
| id | INTA23372 |
| institution | Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina) |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Plos ONE |
| publisherStr | Plos ONE |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | INTA233722025-08-08T13:10:31Z Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias Fontanarrosa, Gabriela Zarbá, Lucía Aschero, Valeria Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés Núñez Montellano, María Gabriela Plaza Behr, Maia C. Schroeder, Natalia Lomáscolo, Silvia Beatriz Fanjul, María Elisa Monmany Garzia, A. Carolina Alvarez, Marisa Novillo, Agustina Lorenzo Pisarello, María José D’Almeida, Romina Elisa Valoy, Mariana Ramírez-Mejía, Andrés Felipe Rodríguez, Daniela Reynaga, Celina Sandoval Salinas, María Leonor Chillo, María Verónica Piquer-Rodríguez, María Ecología Equidad de Género Papel de la Mujer Participación de la Mujer Ecology Gender Equity Role of Women Women's Participation Biographical features like social and economic status, ethnicity, sexuality, care roles, and gender unfairly disadvantage individuals within academia. Authorship patterns should reflect the social dimension behind the publishing process and co-authorship dynamics. To detect potential gender biases in the authorship of papers and examine the extent of women’s contribution in terms of the substantial volume of scientific production in Ecology, we surveyed papers from the top-ranked journal Ecology from 1999 to 2021. We developed a Women’s Contribution Index (WCI) to measure gender-based individual contributions. Considering gender, allocation in the author list, and the total number of authors, the WCI calculates the sum of each woman’s contribution per paper. We compared the WCI with women’s expected contributions in a non-gender-biased scenario. Overall, women account for 30% of authors of Ecology, yet their contribution to papers is higher than expected by chance (i.e., over-contribution). Additionally, by comparing the WCI with an equivalent Men’s Contribution Index, we found that women consistently have higher contributions compared to men. We also observed a temporal trend of increasing women’s authorship and mixed-gender papers. This suggests some progress in addressing gender bias in the field of ecology. However, we emphasize the need for a better understanding of the pattern of over-contribution, which may partially stem from the phenomenon of over-compensation. In this context, women might need to outperform men to be perceived and evaluated as equals. The WCI provides a valuable tool for quantifying individual contributions and understanding gender biases in academic publishing. Moreover, the index could be customized to suit the specific question of interest. It serves to uncover a previously non-quantified type of bias (over-contribution) that, we argue, is the response to the inequitable structure of the scientific system, leading to differences in the roles of individuals within a scientific publishing team. EEA Bariloche Fil: Fontanarrosa, Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Fontanarrosa, Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Zarbá, Lucía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Territoriales y Tecnológicas para la Producción del Hábitat; Argentina Fil: Zarbá, Lucía. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Investigaciones Territoriales y Tecnológicas para la Producción del Hábitat; Argentina Fil: Aschero, Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto Argentino de Nivologia, Glaciologia y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Aschero, Valeria. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto Argentino de Nivologia, Glaciologia y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Fundación Miguel Lillo. Instituto Vertebrados, Zoología; Argentina Fil: Núñez Montellano, María Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Núñez Montellano, María Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Plaza Behr, Maia C. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Plaza Behr, Maia C. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Schroeder, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina Fil: Schroeder, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina Fil: Lomáscolo, Silvia B. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Lomáscolo, Silvia B. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Fanjul, María Elisa. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Fundación Miguel Lillo. Instituto Vertebrados, Zoología; Argentina Fil: Monmany Garzia, A. Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Monmany Garzia, A. Carolina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Alvarez, Marisa. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán; Argentina Fil: Alvarez, Marisa. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero; Argentina Fil: Novillo, Agustina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Novillo, Agustina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Lorenzo Pisarello, María José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; Argentina Fil: D’Almeida, Romina Elisa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentina Fil: Valoy, Mariana. Fundación Miguel Lillo; Argentina Fil: Ramírez-Mejía, Andrés Felipe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Ramírez-Mejía, Andrés Felipe. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: Rodríguez, Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina Fil: Rodríguez, Daniela. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina Fil: Reynaga, Celina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Reynaga, Celina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; Argentina Fil: Sandoval Salinas, María L. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigación en Luz, Ambiente y Visión; Argentina Fil: Sandoval Salinas, María L. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Investigación en Luz, Ambiente y Visión; Argentina Fil: Sandoval Salinas, María L. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad Argentina; Argentina Fil: Chillo, María Verónica. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias de Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Chillo, María Verónica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Piquer-Rodríguez, María. Freie Universität Berlin. Institute of Geographical Sciences; Alemania 2025-08-08T13:05:01Z 2025-08-08T13:05:01Z 2024-09 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/23372 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0307813 1932-6203 (online) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307813 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf Plos ONE PLoS ONE 19 (9) : e0307813. (2024) |
| spellingShingle | Ecología Equidad de Género Papel de la Mujer Participación de la Mujer Ecology Gender Equity Role of Women Women's Participation Fontanarrosa, Gabriela Zarbá, Lucía Aschero, Valeria Dos Santos, Daniel Andrés Núñez Montellano, María Gabriela Plaza Behr, Maia C. Schroeder, Natalia Lomáscolo, Silvia Beatriz Fanjul, María Elisa Monmany Garzia, A. Carolina Alvarez, Marisa Novillo, Agustina Lorenzo Pisarello, María José D’Almeida, Romina Elisa Valoy, Mariana Ramírez-Mejía, Andrés Felipe Rodríguez, Daniela Reynaga, Celina Sandoval Salinas, María Leonor Chillo, María Verónica Piquer-Rodríguez, María Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias |
| title | Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias |
| title_full | Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias |
| title_fullStr | Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias |
| title_full_unstemmed | Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias |
| title_short | Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias |
| title_sort | over twenty years of publications in ecology over contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias |
| topic | Ecología Equidad de Género Papel de la Mujer Participación de la Mujer Ecology Gender Equity Role of Women Women's Participation |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/23372 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0307813 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307813 |
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