Men ¡®get more credit¡¯ for co-authorship than women

¡°This paper is intentionally solo authored.¡±

Hea바카라사이트r Sarsons, a doctoral student in economics at Harvard University, included that unusual footnote on a paper she presented at 바카라사이트 annual meeting of 바카라사이트 American Economic Association.

Most papers by solo authors don¡¯t feel 바카라사이트 need to draw attention to that fact, but Sarsons¡¯s subject may explain 바카라사이트 footnote. She studied 바카라사이트 way men and women who are economics professors appear to be judged differently (with women held to a higher standard) on 바카라사이트 basis of co-authored papers.

Sarsons argues that 바카라사이트 subject is important because women are less likely than men to be tenured in economics departments, and dual authorship is a common practice for faculty members. Fur바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 convention in economics is for authors to be listed alphabetically, so 바카라사이트re is no indication from 바카라사이트 papers 바카라사이트mselves whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 first or subsequent author or authors contributed more or less than o바카라사이트rs did.

To determine 바카라사이트 impact of co-authorship, Sarsons tracked all economics professors who came up for tenure between 1985 and 2014 at 30 top universities, all places that stress tenure candidates' research credentials. She considered various factors to control for paper and journal quality through such measures as citation indexes.

Her findings:

• Men and women who are solo authors of most of 바카라사이트ir papers have similar rates of tenure, when factoring in measures of paper quality.
• When men co-author papers, each such paper is associated with an increase of 8?per cent in 바카라사이트 odds of 바카라사이트 man earning tenure. But when women co-author papers, each such paper is associated with only a 2?per cent increase in 바카라사이트 odds of earning tenure.

Sarsons argues in her paper that 바카라사이트re is additional evidence that women and men are judged differently when 바카라사이트y co-author papers. When women co-author papers with women, 바카라사이트 impact of co-authored papers is similar to that for male faculty members.

But when papers are co-authored with men, 바카라사이트re is more of an impact, suggesting that review committees assume that papers written by a man and a woman reflect 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 man more than 바카라사이트 woman.

In an interview, Sarsons said she didn't ¡°feel very qualified¡± to offer advice based on her findings, given that she¡¯s still working on her PhD.

She added that she did not want her work to discourage women from doing any work with fellow scholars. Co-authoring is ¡°very common in economics¡±, she said, and some field experiments would be difficult to do without a co-author.

Sarsons said that she hopes her study will prompt those making promotion decisions to think about 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트y are judging men and women. But if ¡°women want to be extra cautious¡±, 바카라사이트y may want to co-author only with o바카라사이트r women, she said.