Gender aspect of international academic mobility of Russian scientists

Abstract

This paper examines to what extent the participation of Russian researchers in international academic mobility vary by gender. Based on the analysis of bibliometric data of the Web of Science system (2008—2017) we identified more than 3000 Russian researchers participating in the international scientific migration. This includes both researchers permanently working abroad and scientists working outside of Russia temporarily. All scientists were sorted by their science research focus and the country of residence (permanent or temporal). A gender analysis was carried out for the resulting database. The results of the analysis showed that academic world of female scientists is less international than that of their male colleagues. Women are especially underrepresented in STEM disciplines, but even in the social sciences and humanities the share of women among researchers working abroad is less than among scientists who have stayed in Russia. The low level of participation of women in international academic mobility is due to the asymmetric distribution of family obligations at later career stages, as well as the low representation of women researchers in STEM disciplines, and it is Russian STEM-researchers (especially physics and mathematics) who are most in demand on the international labor market. The paper argues that it is necessary to improve support programs for international academic mobility, as well as create mechanisms aimed at encouraging women to pursue academic careers.