Gender differences in publication among university professors in Canada

This paper analyses a large Canadian national survey of Professors and tackles the "productivity puzzle" as to why female scientists publish less than male scientists. Results show that, in aggregate, Canadian female professors have published significantly less than their male counterparts, both over their lifetimes and during the three years before the survey. However, multivariate analyses reveal that gender differences in publication are more pronounced in the lifetime data than in the data for the shorter period. Much of the difference in publication between men and women of the academy is in refereed and non-refereed articles and reports over their career. Finally, gender differences in publication are largely accounted for by differences in rank, years since PhD, discipline, type of university and time set aside for research. Problems of assessing predictors of research productivity are discussed.