Gender Differences in AGU Journals

Gender differences in the geoscience field have kept women away from equal opportunities and success. The current study addresses gender differences within journals published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). This organization is the largest geology society comprising 60,000 members, but only 20% are women. This study replicates another study performed in astronomy. The astronomy study measured the gender differences in the number of citations that each work from female and male authors have obtained. The findings showed that the gender differences decreased over time, but overall women receive 10% fewer citations than men. The current research seeks to discover the gender differences in geophysical journals, specifically journals published by AGU. It is expected that men will receive more citations in their academic work than women in these journals. This study expects to have a similar outcome as the astronomy study. The current study gathered citation data for AGU journals that have published at least ten years of volumes. Currently, the study is working on fixing the citations and finding the first names of the authors to determine whether they are female or male. Preliminary data of on publication statistics of the journals will be presented at the symposium.