Gender Gaps in Perceptions of Political Science Journals

Abstract

The gender publication gap puts women at a disadvantage for tenure and promotion, which contributes to the discipline’s leaky pipeline. Several studies published in PS find no evidence of gender bias in the review process and instead suggest that submission pools are distorted by gender. To make a contribution to this important debate, we fielded an original survey to a sample of American Political Science Association members to measure participants’ perceptions of political science journals. Results reveal that the gender submission gap is accompanied by a gender perception gap at some but not all political science journals we study. Women report that they are more likely to submit to and get published in some journals, whereas men report as such with regard to other journals. Importantly, these gaps are observed even among scholars with the same methodological (i.e., quantitative or qualitative) approach.

You Research Like a Girl: Gendered Research Agendas and Their Implications

“…What leads to this submission gap? Brown et al (2018) explored the idea of the “perception gap,” or the feeling that certain outlets are less hospitable to women’s work. The perception gap, they argued, can contribute to the submission gap (Brown and Samuels 2018) and ultimately explain the publication gap documented by Teele and Thelen (2017).…”

“…Brown et al (2018) explored the idea of the “perception gap,” or the feeling that certain outlets are less hospitable to women’s work. The perception gap, they argued, can contribute to the submission gap (Brown and Samuels 2018) and ultimately explain the publication gap documented by Teele and Thelen (2017). We argue that the cause of these gaps may originate even earlier in a scholar’s career with the choice of research agenda, which can shape where (or even if) a researcher chooses to submit her work.We argue that the cause of these gaps may originate even earlier in a scholar’s career with the choice of research agenda, which can shape where (or even if) a researcher chooses to submit her work.…”

“…Several theories have emerged to explain the submission gap, including risk aversion (Djupe, Smith, and Sokhey 2018) and a “perception gap” (Brown et al 2018). This article proposes a different and perhaps compatible answer: research topics may be gendered, and topics disproportionately studied by women may be perceived as “niche” and unsuitable for generalist and higher-ranked journals.…”

Improving Women’s Advancement in Political Science: What We Know About What Works

“…However, more recent observational analysis found no difference between single-and double-blind journals, including in those same journals (Cox and Mongomerie 2019). In political science, the gender gap in authorship in journals is less a result of biased editorial processes (Brown and Samuels 2018) than of gender gaps in the submission pool (Brown et al 2020). This provides further evidence that changes to the gender composition or process of reviews are unlikely to improve women's advancement in publication and promotion.…”

Politics, Groups, and Identities and New Pathways to Rep Publishing in Political Science

“…Women and scholars of color are underrepresented in the discipline's most prestigious journals (Teele and Thelen 2017). Yet, a recent scholarly examination of political science journals found that women view their odds of being published in PGI more favorably and are more likely to state that they will submit their research to this journal (Brown et al 2019). Indeed, in Volume 6, which was published in 2018, 54% of authors were women, 53.4% were scholars of color, and 39.8% were junior scholars.…”