Are women publishing less during the pandemic? Here’s what the data say

Are women publishing less during the pandemic? Here’s what the data say



Female academics held back by lockdowns
Early analyses show that female academics are posting fewer preprints and starting fewer research projects than their male peers amid the pandemic. Ecologist Megan Frederickson studied preprint servers to investigate whether women were publishing fewer papers than they were before lockdowns began. The analysis — and several others — suggests that, across disciplines, women’s publishing rate has fallen relative to men’s. The findings support earlier, anecdotal reports that female academics’ productivity has suffered disproportionately under lockdown. Frederickson notes that the lockdowns so far have been relatively short compared with the usual research timeline, so the long-term implications for women’s careers are unclear.
Nature | 6 min read