In a coastal town known for its scientific exploration, two famed shipwrights, Stella and Marcus, built vessels for researchers to venture into the vast ocean of knowledge.

Stella, renowned for her meticulous craftsmanship, built agile boats. These vessels were designed to navigate with precision, ensuring that every journey was taken with care and attention to detail. Researchers who chose Stella’s boats often sailed with caution, avoiding the risk of overgeneralizations and therefore overreaching conclusions and ensuring their findings were precise and accurate.

On the other side of the dock was Marcus. His ships, grand and bold, were designed to make sweeping claims. They were big, easily catching the wind and drawing attention from every corner of the harbor.

While Marcus’s bold ships often caught the eye, capturing the wind of citations and recognition, Stella’s vessels dove deep, epitomizing depth over breadth. Yet, observers wondered: Why did Stella’s detailed approach garner less acclaim, despite its clear merit?

Bridging the Gap in Scientific Communication

The tale of Stella and Marcus mirrors findings from a research study on gender dynamics in scientific articles, called “When Gender Matters in Scientific Communication: The Role of Generic Language” (DeJesus et al., 2021). Female authors, akin to Stella, tend to present their findings using fewer generics than other articles. Papers with a higher percentage of male authors, resembling Marcus’ boat, however, are more likely to get more attention because of generic statements and therefore cited more. This difference leads to a tangible impact, because this rate is a crucial metric in academia.

While this distinction might seem mere stylistic choice, it might echoe deeper societal narratives, gender norms, and anticipated reader reactions.

The authors come to the conclusion, that “These differences may further support the false gender stereotype that women in academia are less brilliant, and their contributions as less monumental”, so the remaining question is: How can we impede the influence of gender on the shape of the trajectory of scientific discourse and careers?

 

Sources

• DeJesus, J.M., Umscheid, V.A. & Gelman, S.A. When Gender Matters in Scientific Communication: The Role of Generic Language. Sex Roles 85, 577–586 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01240-7
• Used data, material and code of the paper available here.
• creation process of this text with chatGPT: summarize parts, enrichment with details, increase visualisation through metaphor (inspired by Moritz Hahn)