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Women who win prizes get less money and prestige

A new analysis of biomedical awards over five decades shows men receive more cash and more respect for their research than women do, report Brian Uzzi and colleagues.
  1. Yifang Ma

    1. Yifang Ma is a postdoctoral fellow at the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.

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  2. Diego F. M. Oliveira

    1. Diego F. M. Oliveira is an external faculty member at the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA; and a researcher at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Maryland, USA.

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  3. Teresa K. Woodruff

    1. Teresa K. Woodruff is professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

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  4. Brian Uzzi

    1. Brian Uzzi is professor of leadership and organizational change at the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering, and co-director of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.

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Scientists might gauge their success by the usual publishing metrics, or perhaps by how many Nature papers they have. Yet the rest of the world cares little for citation counts, publication rates or journal prestige — people are more likely to learn of a scholar’s impact through the media buzz surrounding big scientific awards1. Such prizes also catch the eye of granting agencies, influence the direction of research and bring scientists personal recognition, particularly in the formative period of their careers2–4.

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Nature 565, 287-288 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00091-3

References

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