#PolSciTwitter: New Data Reveals Gender Gaps in Academic Tweeting

This study examines the adoption of Twitter by political science researchers. We analyze data from all U.S.-based political scientists at PhD-granting institutions who maintain public accounts.

Key Findings:

• Female scholars and those on tenure track are more active users, particularly for sharing research findings.
• Counterintuitively, male-authored research attracts significantly more attention (engagement via retweets) from other political scientists.

Implications & Context:

Our novel dataset of 1236 users reveals persistent disparities in how scholars disseminate work through this digital platform. Although women are substantial participants, their contributions as shared content receive comparatively less uptake by peers.