学术产出的性别差异:一个社会网络分析的视角

Gender Difference in Scientific Productivity:An Explanation from the Perspective of Social Network Analysis

科学界学术产出的性别差异是科学社会学关注的重要议题之一。本文利用2013年"北京市科技工作者状况调查"数据,以高校科研人员为分析样本,以社会网络为分析视角,从网络欠缺和网络回报欠缺两个层面,探究造成科研产出(以SCI/EI论文发表为例)性别差异的网络机制。研究发现,女性科研人员的网络规模欠缺并非导致其学术产出低于男性同行的重要原因;与国内外学术界和企业界的纽带关系的"结构性欠缺",则的确削弱了她们获取学术信息与资源的能力和机会,进而导致其SCI/EI论文发表量低于男性。此外,在拥有相同网络结构的条件下,女性从与企业的纽带关系中获得的论文产出回报也低于男性,这进一步加剧了学术产出的性别不平等。

The issue of gender difference in scientific productivity has long been an important topic in the sociology of science as it reflects the gender inequality in science job market as well as status and income stratification between male and female scientists. The data in this study is drawn from the General Survey of Science Researchers and Technicians in Beijing in 2013 as well as a sample survey of university researchers. The paper explores how social networks among scientists act as an important structural factor contributing to the gender inequality in scientific productivity. Scientific productivity in this study is measured by the number of publications in SCI/EI. Our finding first supports the general observation by other scholars that female scientists＇ networks tend to be smaller, members less prestigious and have fewer connection with industries, governments and domestic or foreign research institutes, than their male counterpart. Second, the primary network contributor to the gender differences in research productivity seems to be the lack of connection with domestic R ＆ D institutes, foreign researchers and industries, not the size of the networks or connection with the government. This weakness affects female scientists＇ opportunity to obtain valuable information and funding. Third, the overall social network return on productivity is lower for female scientists than for male scientists, nevertheless, this gender difference seems to be less significant than what is observed in the broad labor market. Among the variables examined, the connection to industries and businesses shows the most noticeable gender difference for its impact on research productivity.