Mind the Gap: Gender Differences in Citations among Mexican Scholars

Daniela Aguirre-Guerrero; M. Ehekatzin García-Guzmán; Aurora Ramírez-Álvarez; Diana Terrazas-Santamaría

doi:10.29105/ensayos45.2-2

Authors

Daniela Aguirre-Guerrero Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4945-7258
M. Ehekatzin García-Guzmán El Colegio de México https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9198-0468
Aurora Ramírez-Álvarez El Colegio de México https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8358-2920
Diana Terrazas-Santamaría El Colegio de México https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7236-882X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29105/ensayos45.2-2

Keywords:

gender citation gap, endowments, bibliometrics, Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, credit scoring; credit card; Mexico; logit model, National System of Researchers

Abstract

Objective: To quantify gender gaps in scholarly impact within Mexico's National System of Researchers (SNI). Methodology: A Scopus-based dataset of 2,089 active SNI researchers in Economics, Engineering, and Health Sciences for 2021 was assembled, and an Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition of log citations was applied. The outcome variable and right-tailed covariates were winsorized at the 99th percentile within each discipline to reduce the influence of extreme values, and all variables were transformed as log(x+1) to retain zero-valued observations. The study used a cross-sectional observational design and was restricted to SNI researchers identifiable in Scopus; a Heckman selection-corrected specification is reported in the Appendix. Findings: Women received approximately 23% fewer citations in Economics and 21% fewer in Health Sciences; in both disciplines, more than 100% of the observed gap was explained by differences in endowments, mainly fewer publications and shorter academic careers. In Engineering, the citation gap was not statistically significant; women exhibited lower endowments but higher returns to observable characteristics. Implications: The findings suggest that narrowing the citation gap requires strengthening research opportunities and career permanence rather than focusing on citation dynamics. Originality: This study provides the first discipline-specific Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition of the gender citation gap among SNI researchers and distinguishes between differences in citation outcomes and differences associated with academic trajectories.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Aksnes, D. W., Langfeldt, L., & Wouters, P. (2019). Citations, citation indicators, and research quality: An overview of basic concepts and theories. SAGE Open, 9(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019829575 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019829575

[2] Bellemare, M. F., & Wichman, C. J. (2020). Elasticities and the inverse hyperbolic sine transformation. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 82(1), 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/obes.12325 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/obes.12325

[3] Blinder, A. S. (1973). Wage discrimination: Reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources, 8(4), 436-455. https://doi.org/10.2307/144855 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/144855

[4] Bornmann, L., & Daniel, H. D. (2007). What do we know about the h-index? Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(9), 1381–1385. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20609 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20609

[5] Calvino, F., & Criscuolo, C. (2019). Business dynamics and digitalisation (OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers No. 62). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/6e0b011a-en DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/6e0b011a-en

[6] CONACYT. (2020, 7 de agosto). Reglamento del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (Acuerdo 03-07/2020 de la Junta de Gobierno del CONACYT, 3.ª sesión ordinaria 2020). Diario Oficial de la Federación. https://sidof.segob.gob.mx/notas/docFuente/5600871

[7] Criscuolo, C., Martin, R., Overman, H. G. y Van Reenen, J. (2019). Some causal effects of an industrial policy. American Economic Review, 109(1), 48-85. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20160034 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20160034

[8] DiPrete, T. A., & Eirich, G. M. (2006). Cumulative advantage as a mechanism for inequality: A review of theoretical and empirical developments. Annual Review of Sociology, 32, 271–297. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123127 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123127

[9] Dion, M. L., Sumner, J. L., & Mitchell, S. M. (2018). Gendered citation patterns across political science and social science methodology fields. Political Analysis, 26(3), 312–327. https://doi.org/10.1017/pan.2018.12 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/pan.2018.12

[10] Dorantes-Gilardi, R., Ramírez-Álvarez, A. A., & Terrazas-Santamaría, D. (2022). The role of highly intercited papers on scientific impact: The Mexican case. Applied Network Science, 7(1), Artículo 58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-022-00497-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-022-00497-5

[11] Dorantes-Gilardi, R., Ramírez-Álvarez, A. A., & Terrazas-Santamaría, D. (2023). Is there a differentiated gender effect of collaboration with super-cited authors? Evidence from junior researchers in Economics. Scientometrics, 128(4), 2317-2336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-023-04656-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-023-04656-y

[12] Ellison, G. (2013). How does the market use citation data? The Hirsch index in Economics. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(3), 63–90. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.5.3.63 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/app.5.3.63

[13] Galaz Fontes, J. F., Martínez Stack, J., & Gil Antón, M. (2020). The emergence of the new Mexican academic meritocracy. Higher Education Governance and Policy, 1(2), 138–151. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/hegp/article/827043

[14] Ghiasi, G., Larivière, V., & Sugimoto, C. R. (2015). On the compliance of women engineers with a gendered scientific system. PLOS ONE, 10(12), Artículo e0145931. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145931 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145931

[15] Ginther, D. K., & Kahn, S. (2004). Women in Economics: Moving up or falling off the academic career ladder? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(3), 193–214. https://doi.org/10.1257/0895330042162386 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/0895330042162386

[16] Gonzalez-Brambila, C., & Veloso, F. M. (2007). The determinants of research output and impact: A study of Mexican researchers. Research Policy, 36(7), 1035–1051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2007.03.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2007.03.005

[17] Heckman, J. J. (1979). Sample selection bias as a specification error. Econometrica, 47(1), 153–161. https://doi.org/10.2307/1912352 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1912352

[18] Hengel, E. (2022). Publishing while female: Are women held to higher standards? Evidence from peer review. The Economic Journal, 132(648), 2951–2991. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueac032 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueac032

[19] Hensvik, L., & Nilsson, P. (2025). Equality for granted: What happens when discrimination in academia becomes salient? (CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP20210). Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/publications/dp20210

[20] Hirsch, J. E. (2005). An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(46), 16569–16572. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507656102 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507655102

[21] Huang, J., Gates, A. J., Sinatra, R., & Barabási, A.-L. (2020). Historical comparison of gender inequality in scientific careers across countries and disciplines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(9), 4609–4616. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1914221117 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1914221117

[22] Jann, B. (2008). The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition for linear regression models. The Stata Journal, 8(4), 453–479. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X0800800401 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X0800800401

[23] King, M. M., Bergstrom, C. T., Correll, S. J., Jacquet, J., & West, J. D. (2017). Men set their own cites high: Gender and self-citation across fields and over time. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 3, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117738903 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117738903

[24] Krauss, A., Danús, L., & Sales-Pardo, M. (2023). Early-career factors largely determine the future impact of prominent researchers: Evidence across eight scientific fields. Scientific Reports, 13, 18794. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46050-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46050-x

[25] Larivière, V., Sugimoto, C. R., Tsou, A., & Gingras, Y. (2015). Team size matters: Collaboration and scientific impact since 1900. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 66(7), 1323–1332. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23266 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23266

[26] Leone, A. J., Minutti-Meza, M., & Wasley, C. E. (2019). Influential observations and inference in accounting research. The Accounting Review, 94(6), 337–364. https://doi.org/10.2308/accr-52397 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2308/accr-52396

[27] Li, W., Aste, T., Caccioli, F., & Livan, G. (2019). Early coauthorship with top scientists predicts success in academic careers. Nature Communications, 10(1), artículo 5170. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13130-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13130-4

[28] MaCurdy, T. E., & Pencavel, J. H. (1986). Testing between competing models of wage and employment determination in unionized markets. Journal of Political Economy, 94(3, Part 2), S3–S39. https://doi.org/10.1086/261398 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/261398

[29] Merton, R. K. (1968). The Matthew effect in science. Science, 159(3810), 56–62. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.159.3810.56 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.159.3810.56

[30] National Science Board. (2023). Publications output: U.S. trends and international comparisons (NSB-2023-33). National Science Foundation. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb202333

[31] Oaxaca, R. (1973). Male–female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review, 14(3), 693–709. https://doi.org/10.2307/2525981 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2525981

[32] Oaxaca, R. L., & Ransom, M. R. (1994). On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials. Journal of Econometrics, 61(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4076(94)90074-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4076(94)90074-4

[33] Rivera León, L., Mairesse, J., & Cowan, R. (2017). Gender gaps and scientific productivity in middle-income countries: Evidence from Mexico (IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-800). Inter-American Development Bank. https://doi.org/10.18235/0011791 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18235/0011791

[34] Rivera-Romano, L. S., Fresno, C., Hernández-Lemus, E., Martínez-García, M., & Vallejo, M. (2020). Gender imbalance in executive management positions at the Mexican National Institutes of Health. Human Resources for Health, 18(1), Artículo 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-020-0463-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-020-0463-4

[35] Sandoval-Romero, V., & Larivière, V. (2020). The national system of researchers in Mexico: Implications of publication incentives for researchers in social sciences. Scientometrics, 122(1), 99–126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03285-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03285-8

[36] Savage, W. E., & Olejniczak, A. J. (2022). More journal articles and fewer books: Publication practices in the social sciences in the 2010s. PLOS ONE, 17(2), e0263410. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263410 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263410

[37] Seglen, P. O. (1992). The skewness of science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 43(9), 628–638. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199210)43:9<628::AID-ASI5>3.0.CO;2-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199210)43:9<628::AID-ASI5>3.0.CO;2-0

[38] Spoon, K., LaBerge, N., Wapman, K. H., Zhang, S., Morgan, A. C., Galesic, M., Fosdick, B. K., Larremore, D. B., & Clauset, A. (2023). Gender and retention patterns among U.S. faculty. Science Advances, 9(42), Artículo eadi2205. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi2205 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi2205

[39] Thelwall, M., & Maflahi, N. (2022). Research coauthorship 1900–2020: Continuous, universal, and ongoing expansion. Quantitative Science Studies, 3(2), 331–344. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00188 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00188

[40] Van der Wal, J. E. M., Thorogood, R., & Horrocks, N. P. C. (2021). Collaboration enhances career progression in academic science, especially for female researchers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1958), Artículo 20210219. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0219 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0219