Female researchers are more read and less cited because they more often engage in research for societal progress

The gender gap in citations between male and female researchers is well documented. However, the reasons for this gap are less certain and widely contested. Discussing findings from a mixed methods analysis of research publications from Norway, Lin Zhang and Gunnar Sivertsen find that whilst papers authored by female researchers are less cited, they are more frequently engaged with by readers. Through closer analysis of the abstracts of these papers, they argue that these papers more often involve projects aimed at societal progress, which overall are less valued by academics and receive fewer citations.