Funding of basic science in Mexico: the role of gender and research experience on success

Abstract

Whether women researchers find themselves at a disadvantage in comparison to men researchers in obtaining research funding, is a contentious matter. The Mexican National Council of Science and Technology supports basic science research projects. Mexico has a National System of Researchers (SNI), which, by peer review, assigns researchers to four different categories according to their productivity. In this study, data from 16,308 basic science research proposals submitted between 2009 and 2015 were analyzed looking for possible gender bias. The results showed that success rates were strongly associated to the applicant’s SNI level. A logistic regression analysis indicated that the odds ratio for SNI level was 1.91, while neither gender nor scientific discipline had an influence on the odds for success. The results show that for basic science grants in Mexico, gender does not play a role in the assignment of funds. However, it was also found that women applicants are underrepresented at the highest levels of the SNI, which had the highest odds of success, constituting a possible indirect gender bias in the funding of basic science in Mexico.