Project 6: Gender representation in ELIXIR-supported publications: a visibility analysis across academic search engines
An equitable gender representation in ELIXIR-supported publications is crucial for fostering diversity and inclusivity within the ELIXIR community. Recognizing the potential for gender bias in popular bibliographic information retrieval systems, such as Google Scholar, the Bioinfo4Women initiative at the Life Sciences Department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) has developed a system to automatically retrieve comprehensive bibliographic data from Google Scholar queries, equipped with the capability to infer the gender of publication authors. Given Google Scholar's widespread use and its opaque ""relevance"" ranking criteria, our tool presents a significant opportunity to scrutinize and understand potential gender and visibility biases in ELIXIR-supported publications, particularly focusing on the underrepresentation of women leading authors in specific domains.
The project aims to rigorously test and utilize the capabilities of our system to specifically explore ELIXIR-supported publications, drawing on the existing compilation created by the ELIXIR Impact Group https://elixir-europe.org/about-us/impact/publications. The challenge's objective is twofold: to assess the impact of Google Scholar's algorithm on the visibility of ELIXIR publications authored by women and to benchmark these findings against more transparent and FAIR-aligned bibliographic engines, such as the BIP! Finder developed by ELIXIR Greece.
This endeavor will not only highlight discrepancies in gender representation but also foster the development of more equitable information retrieval practices. By leveraging our system's unique functionalities, participants will contribute to a more inclusive understanding of scholarly impact, paving the way for interventions to mitigate bias in academic literature production and discovery.
Davide Cirillo, María Morales Martínez