'Women Researchers From Non-English Low-Income Countries Publish 70% Fewer Papers'

Inequities in scientific research, such as being a woman, belonging to a nonEnglish-speaking or lowincome country, could reduce one's chances of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal by up to 70 per cent, compared to men speaking native-English from a high-income country, according to a study.

- Press Trust Of India

Researchers from institutes in Australia, Germany, Colombia, Nepal, the US and UK surveyed over 900 environmental scientists and estimated that women researchers, particularly those in the early stages of their careers, published 45 per cent fewer English-language papers, compared to men.

The team explained that women are less likely to hold a tenured position and more likely to leave academia than men, thereby impacting the number of papers that one publishes.

Scientists from lower-income countries tend to be less funded than their higher-income counterparts, and nonnative English speakers experience a language-based rejection up to 2.6 times more often than native English speakers, the researchers said.