Author Gender in American Documentation, 1950-1969

Abstract

The field of information science has been documented in several ways during its existence and in some ways has mirrored that of other scientific disciplines during the same period. This article examines variables related to author gender of information science articles in American Documentation (AD) during its entire run, 1950 through 1969. Published by the American Documentation Institute, AD was a primary information science journal of its time, changing its name in 1970 to the Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS), corresponding with the change of the parent organization's name to the American Society for Information Science (1968). AD was preceded by an earlier "information science" publication, the Journal of Documentary Reproduction (JDR), 1938-1942, issued by the American Library Association. Studies indicate that females contributed about 8% for the entire run of articles in JDR (1938)(1939)(1940)(1941)(1942) and about 22% for the first twenty-seven years of JASIS . The present study explores the nature of female contributions to AD for the middle period (1950)(1951)(1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960)(1961)(1962)(1963)(1964)(1965)(1966)(1967)(1968)(1969). It has been determined that for the entire run of the journal under the name AD, female authors comprised about 17% of the contributors, which places their publishing percentage for this period between the earlier and later periods, thus expectedly filling the gap.