Why Women Publish Less in Italian Political Science — Editors Play a Role

🔎 What Was Studied and Why

This study asks whether the gender gap documented in international political science publishing also exists within Italian political science. To avoid cross-country comparability problems common in prior work (which often compares U.S. publication rates to U.S. workforce data), a single-country approach is used to evaluate whether a ‘‘glass-ceiling’’ persists for political scientists who aim to publish their research.

📚 Where the Evidence Comes From

• Articles published between 2015 and 2020 in the three major Italian political science journals.
• Analysis focuses on authorship patterns, collaboration between men and women, editorial composition of journals, and links between publication patterns and academic career progression.

🔍 Key Findings

• The share of published articles authored by women is lower than that of men in the three journals studied.
• That lower share cannot be explained by a smaller overall presence of women in the Italian political science field; the hypothesis that women’s underrepresentation in publications simply reflects fewer women in the discipline is refuted.
• Collaboration across gender lines is limited: there is little coauthorship between men and women.
• A positive correlation exists between the presence of female editors on scientific journals and the proportion of female-authored articles published in those journals.
• Gender differences in publication are mirrored in women’s slower academic career progression.

⚖️ Why This Matters

The results indicate a persistent glass ceiling in Italian political science that affects publication outcomes and career trajectories. Editorial composition and collaboration patterns emerge as potentially influential factors, suggesting leverage points for policy and institutional change to reduce gender disparities in academic publishing and advancement.