Cruel Measures: Gendered Excellence in Research

Lipton, Briony

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45062-5_3

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Obtaining funding for health and medical research has become harder in Australia as success rates have declined. Declining success rates increase the competition for funding and so create additional pressure for researchers to have an outstanding track record with large numbers of publications ( Lipton, 2020 ). Gaps in track record due to career disruption can therefore be highly prejudicial when researchers are compared ( Lipton, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Declining success rates increase the competition for funding and so create additional pressure for researchers to have an outstanding track record with large numbers of publications ( Lipton, 2020 ). Gaps in track record due to career disruption can therefore be highly prejudicial when researchers are compared ( Lipton, 2020 ). Researchers who experience career disruption could have a gap in their track record if they took time away from research because of a personal issue, for example, their own illness or that of a family member.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Meta-research: justifying career disruption in funding applications, a survey of Australian researchers

Barnett

Page

Dyer

et al. 2022

eLife

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Background: When researchers' careers are disrupted by life events-such as illness or childbirth-they often need to take extended time off. This creates a gap in their research output that can reduce their chances of winning funding. In Australia, applicants can disclose their career disruptions and peer reviewers are instructed to make appropriate adjustments. However, it is not clear if and how applicants use career disruption sections or how reviewers adjust and if they do it consistently. Methods: To examine career disruption, we used surveys of the Australian health and medical research community. We used both a random sample of Australian authors on PubMed and a non-random convenience sample. Results: Respondents expressed concerns that sharing information on career disruption would harm their chances of being funded, with 13% saying they have medical or social circumstances but would not include it in their application, with concerns about appearing 'weak'. Women were more reluctant to include disruption. There was inconsistency in how disruption was adjusted for, with less time given for those with depression compared with caring responsibilities, and less time given for those who did not provide medical details of their disruption. Conclusions: The current system is likely not adequately adjusting for career disruption and this may help explain the ongoing funding gap for senior women in Australia. Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship (Barnett).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%