On the lack of women researchers in the Middle East & North Africa

Abstract

Recent gender policies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have improved legal equality for women with noticeable effects in some countries. The implications of these policies on science, however, is not well-understood. This study examines applies a bibliometric lens to describe the landscape of gender disparities in scientific research in MENA. Specifically, we examine 1.7 million papers indexed in the Web of Science published by 1.1 million authors from MENA between 2008 and 2020. We used bibliometric indicators to analyse potential disparities between men and women in the share of authors, research productivity, and seniority in authorship. The results show that gender parity is far from being achieved in MENA. Overall, men authors obtain higher representation, research productivity, and seniority. But some countries standout: Tunisia, Lebanon, Turkey, Algeria and Egypt have higher shares or women researchers compared to the rest of MENA countries. The UAE, Qatar, and Jordan have shown progress in terms of women participation in science, but Saudi Arabia lags behind. We find that women are more likely to stop publishing than men and that men publish on average between 11% and 51% more than women, with this gap increasing over time. Finally, men, on average, achieved senior positions in authorship faster than women. Our longitudinal study contributes to a better understanding of gender disparities in science in MENA which is catching up in terms of policy engagement and women representation. However, the results suggest that the effects of the policy changes have yet to materialize into distinct improvement in women’s participation and performance in science.

The state of cancer research in fragile and conflict-affected settings in the Middle East and North Africa Region: A bibliometric analysis

“…Regionally, in non-conflict settings, Tunisia is the only country where women researchers outnumber men (56% of Tunisian researchers are women), while some countries have made notable strides towards gender equity in research in a short period, including Algeria (from 35% in 2005 to 47% in 2017), Egypt (from 36% in 2007 to 46% in 2018), and Kuwait (from 23% in 2008 to 53% in 2018) ( 34 ). Importantly, gender stereotypes and biases, family responsibilities, unequal access to funding, unconscious bias in hiring and promotion, workplace culture, discrimination, and harassment maybe impact women’s representation in research ( 35 ), which is further compounded in conflict-affected settings due to political instability, security insurgencies, and weak women-empowering policies ( 36 , 37 ). Addressing these issues will require policymakers’ attention, and promoting gender equity in cancer research, such as supporting female researchers and addressing biases in the research process, may help to enhance the quality and diversity of research in the region and globally.…”

Genitourinary cancers in the Arab world: A bibliometric study

“…Furthermore, in line with other studies in the region, the current study reveals a gender difference within health research as the first authors were mostly men. This indicates that women in developing Arab countries remain underrepresented, potentially due to cultural and socio-political factors (29,30). Indeed, one in three researchers is a woman in the Arab region (37%) (31).…”

Analyzing scientific mobility and collaboration in the Middle East and North Africa

“…The author is not allowed to share this data. However, the list of unified funders with their type and country is available in a data repository (El-Ouahi, 2023).…”

“…After the unification, the dataset under study contains 1,059 unified names of funders from the 22 MENA countries as of 16 March 2023. The list of unified funders with their type and country is available in a data repository(El-Ouahi, 2023).…”