Why does gender inequality in academic publishing persist? Lessons and recommendations

Abstract

Data from leading scholarly journals and publishing houses show that the gender gap in academic publishing is deep and persistent. This has considerable consequences for individual careers and for academic knowledge across disciplines. As European political science journals have started to publish their gender data for submissions and publication processes, this article evaluates this trend and the conclusions from a recent symposium on ‘The gendered distribution of authors and reviewers in major European political science journals’. It summarises a list of ‘key gender data’ that journal editors are encouraged to publish on an annual basis to achieve a more accurate and comprehensive picture for individual journals and across the discipline. It also includes suggestions for editors to ensure better citations of female scholars in their journals.

Mission partly accomplished: European Union Politics at 25

“…According to Manners (2007: 90), such claims are ‘monstrous’ and ‘only lead to tighter straightjackets.’ Although the call for theoretical rigor and systematic research designs was welcomed broadly and is embraced by a seemingly ever-growing group of scholars, EU research remains dominated by scholars from Western Europe, especially Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. Furthermore, the gender gap that persists at EUP (Bettecken et al, 2022; Hagemann, 2022), and the social sciences in general (Dion et al, 2018; Stockemer, 2022; Teele and Thelen, 2017), remains a matter of concern.…”