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DIVERSITY IN SCIENCE AND SCIENCE FUNDING A MAPPING OF THE LITERATURE ON DIVERSITY WITH REGARDS TO GENDER, AGE, CAREER STAGE, NATIONALITY AND RESEARCH FIELD Rapport This background report presents a literature survey undertaken by the Think Tank DEA in connection with the project “Diversity in science and in science funding”. The project was commissioned and co-funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. DEA bears sole responsibility for the results and conclu- sions presented in this report. The image on the cover page was downloaded from Freepik.com Authors: Maria Theresa Norn, Head of Analysis, Ph.D. Jonas Krog Lind, Senior Consultant, Ph.D. Lena Lindbjerg Sperling, Senior Economist, Ph.D. Olav Stavnem, Project Assistant, DEA May 2021 Published by: The Think Tank DEA Fiolstræde 44 1171 Copenhagen K, Denmark www.dea.nu Independent Research Fund Denmark Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science Asylgade 7 5000 Odense C, Denmark www.dff.dk Contents 1 Introduction and summary 6 Summary of the literature on diversity with regards to gender 7 Summary of the literature on diversity with regards to age, career stage, and nationality 17 Summary of the literature on diversity with regards to research field 20 2 Methods 24 3 The literature on diversity with regards to gender 27 3.1 Arguments for why gender inequality in science matters 28 3.2 Gender differences in academic career trajectories 32 3.3 Gender differences in research patterns and performance 35 3.4 Gender differences in funding 42 3.5 What explains gender differences in career trajectories, research performance, and funding? 44 3.6 How is gender diversity supported? 67 4 The literature on diversity with regards to age, career stage, and nationality 77 4.1 The precariousness nature of academic careers 77 4.2 What distinguishes those who stay in academia from those who leave? 79 4.3 Demands and expectations of international mobility 85 4.4 Research on foreign-born academics 86 4.5 Mid and late-career perspectives on an academic career 90 4.6 Is there bias in peer review related to age, career stage, or nationality? 91 5 The literature on diversity with regards to research field 94 5.1 What does ‘diversity with regards to research field’ mean? 94 5.2 Why does diversity with regards to research field matter? 95 5.3 Can you have too much of a good thing when it comes to heterogeneity? 97 5.4 What makes researchers pursue divergent research paths? 98 5.5 Is there a bias against researchers with cognitively diverse research strategies? 102 References 104 1 Introduction and summary 1 Introduction and summary This background report presents the results of a mapping of the literature on diversity in science and sci- ence funding. The mapping forms part of a larger project on diversity in science and science funding. The project was undertaken by the Think Tank DEA in collaboration with the Independent Research Fund Den- mark, which commissioned and co-funded the project. The aim of the project and the literature mapping is to provide an overview of research on how diversity matters for science and which factors may hinder or promote greater diversity. Diversity in science refers to heterogeneity among researchers or in research topics and approaches. Many factors can contribute to such heterogeneity, but this mapping focuses on diversity with regards to gender, age, career stage, nationality, and research field. These aspects of diversity were selected be- cause they were highlighted in the 2018-2020 strategy for the Independent Research Fund Denmark. This does not indicate that other aspects of diversity are less important. The literature mapping focuses on peer-reviewed academic research published primarily within the past decade. Where relevant, older contributions to the literature as well as selected policy reports have also been included, e.g. to provide a more comprehensive overview of themes addressed in the literature. The mapping aimed to establish an overview of key themes and findings presented in the literature, to provide research funders and other decision-makers with insight into the state of the literature on the se- lected aspects of diversity covered. It was not possible within the scope of the literature mapping to criti- cally assess the data, methods, or validity of the studies included. Of the selected aspects of diversity, gender accounts by far for most of the research identified. All of the streams of literature that this report draws on are, however, fragmented across research topics and methods. Moreover, much of the evidence on key themes addressed in the literature is inconclusive, due in large part to variations in data and methods, but also due to the sheer complexity of the phenomena studied. To the best of our abilities, we have sought to draw out key trends and emerging areas of con- sensus. Given the mixed evidence identified in several parts of the literature, the findings reported here should be seen as tentative conclusions open to further discussion and interpretation. The rest of this chapter presents a summary of each of the three main parts of the literature mapping: first, a summary of research on diversity with regards to gender, and then summaries of the literature on diversity with regards to age, career stage and nationality, and finally, research on diversity with regards to research field. The summaries do not include references to the literature; all references can be found in the subsequent chapters on diversity with regards to gender (chapter 3), age, career stage and nationality (chapter 3), and research field (chapter 4). The approach taken in the development of the literature mapping is described in chapter 2. 6 Summary of the literature on diversity with regards to gender An extensive but fragmented body of work yielding mixed evidence Gender diversity in science is a long-standing issue in academia, driven in particular by observations of differences in the scientific performance and career trajectories of male and female researchers. Research on gender diversity in academia is extensive but fragmented across a wide range of subtopics, disciplinary approaches, and publication outlets – and the results presented in this body of work are often inconsistent. Several explanations for the mixed results in the literature have been put forth. First, the complex and changing nature of gender differences that exist in academia makes it a difficult subject of study. Second, there is a high degree of variation in the types of data and methods applied to studies of gender differences in science. Some studies are based on qualitative data, while others draw on quanti- tative data. Some studies base their conclusions on an analysis of large numbers of observations, and in a few cases even longitudinal data, while other studies provide ‘snapshots’ based on a small number of observations, often drawn from the same local setting (e.g., a single institution or department). Finally, many studies focus on selected research fields or subfields, while studies that analyze data across re- search fields find substantial field-level gender differences in e.g., research behavior and performance. Overall, the literature, therefore, provides many different lenses unto questions regarding gender diver- sity in science, which provide rich and nuanced insights. But it is generally difficult to point to clear an- swers to the questions explored in the literature. The authors of this mapping of the literature have there- fore sought to present the key results and arguments put forth in the literature in a way as to reflect the diversity of approaches and findings in this body of work. To the best of our ability, we have tried to draw out some overall conclusions from the literature. Given the ambiguity of the existing evidence on this theme, the conclusions should however be seen as tentative – and as a point of departure for further dia- logue regarding the state of knowledge regarding diversity in science. Arguments for why gender equality in science matters Given the highly polarized and often normatively driven debate on gender issues in academia, it is worth dwelling on arguments presented in the literature for why gender equality (or the lack thereof) matters for science. These arguments, generally speaking fall into one of two categories. The first set of arguments call for equal opportunities for all qualified researchers to pursue and excel in an academic career, regardless of their gender. First, some researchers emphasize the importance of increasing the representation of underrepresented groups in academia (including but not limited to fe- male researchers). The second set of arguments focus on how higher attrition rates for female research- ers represent a problematic loss of talent for the academic research community. Meanwhile, the third set of arguments call for the removal of unreasonable barriers for female researchers to pursue or advance in a research career, regardless of whether these barriers stem from discrimination, conscious or uncon- scious bias, or structural barriers. The next three arguments focus on possible benefits on research from diversity or heterogeneity among researchers. First, several studies have argued that a moderate level of heterogeneity among members of a research team or similar group is associated with a higher degree of creativity and strengthened problem-solving ability. Here, gender diversity has been identified as one of several possible sources of heterogeneity in groups, with gender being associated with e.g., heterogeneity in cognitive thinking styles and in communication styles, which can contribute positively to the overall performance of the group. 7 However, several contributions in the literature argue that there is a curvilinear relationship between het- erogeneity and performance in research groups: while a moderate degree of diversity can be associated with greater variation and productive tensions within a group, high levels of diversity can entail conflict and lower degrees of performance.

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