Is the gender citation gap in international relations driven by elite papers?

Abstract

This paper reanalyses data from a recent widely-discussed study reporting that female-authored papers published in top international relations journals received fewer citations than equivalent male-authored papers. The reanalysis indicated that the gender citation gap is largely limited to elite papers, defined either as papers in the right tail of the citation distribution or as papers published in the most familiar journals. Results suggest that the original study’s recommendation to consider the gender citation gap in promotion and review requires more data and a better understanding of the factors that influence whether a paper enters the discipline’s elite.