Visibility and Dissemination of Women's and Men's Sociological Scholarship

• Published in: Social problems (Berkeley, Calif.) Vol. 39; no. 3; pp. 291 - 298
• Main Authors: Ward, Kathryn B., Gast, Julie, Grant, Linda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brooklyn, N. Y., etc University of California Press 01-08-1992; Society for the Study of Social Problems
• Subjects: Bibliographic citations; Citation indexes; Citations (References); Four Papers on Inequality; Gender relations; Gender roles; Gender studies; Grants; Men; Productivity; Scholarship; Sex Differences; Social issues; Social research; Sociologists; Sociology; Womens studies; Writing for Publication
• DOI: 10.1525/sp.1992.39.3.03x0036j
• EISSN: 1533-8533
• ISSN: 0037-7791

Citations to published scholarly work are frequently used as indicators of scholars' visibility and of the quality or impact of research. Studies of citation patterns have raised questions about whether women's scholarship and research on gender are cited as frequently as other research published in sociology journals of equivalent quality. This paper traces patterns of citations to a sample of 100 articles published in Social Problems during 1974-83. Evidence that citation rates are not gender neutral, primarily as a result of the citation practices of women scholars, is presented. Women's work and gender articles are cited more frequently than other works, especially in nonsociological sources and by women scholars. Women's scholarship and gender articles take longer than other works to reach peak citation years, a pattern that might disadvantage women and scholars of gender related subjects when tenure decisions are made.