Gender Perspectives in Scholarly Migration

Mar 12, 2025

Mindmap

A Gender Perspective on the Global Migration of Scholars

Introduction

  • International Migration in Science: Recognized as a key strategy for career advancement in a globalizing scientific system.
  • Feminization of Migration: Increasing participation of women among international migrants.
  • Research Focus: Gender differences in transnational scholarly mobility using bibliometric data from 1998 to 2017.

Key Findings

Gender Representation and Mobility Trends

  • Underrepresentation of Women: Female researchers are underrepresented among internationally mobile researchers.
  • Narrowing Gender Gap: The gender gap in scholarly mobility is closing faster than among general researchers.
  • Migration Distances: Female researchers migrate shorter distances on average.

Global Diversification

  • Origin and Destination Diversification: Both male and female mobile researchers now migrate to more diverse countries.
  • U.S. as a Leading Destination: The U.S. remains a top academic destination, but its share of international scholars has declined.
  • Rise of China: Increasing relevance as a destination for scholars.

Detailed Analysis

Bibliometric Data and Methods

  • Data Source: Scopus data on over 33 million publications from 1998 to 2017.
  • Metrics: Volume, distance, diversity, and distribution of scholarly mobility.

Results

  • Increase in Female Mobile Researchers: From 29,000 to 79,000 over the study period.
  • Growing Feminization: Aligns with overall migration trends.
  • Median Gender Ratios: Increased from 0.47 to 0.64 among researchers; from 0.32 to 0.5 among mobile researchers.

Country Clusters

  • Cluster Analysis: Identifies countries with varying gender disparities.
    • Countries like Serbia, Argentina achieve near gender parity.
    • Countries like Saudi Arabia, South Korea have marked disparities.

Migration Distances and Spreads

  • Distance Trends: General trend towards longer distances, but females still migrate shorter distances.
  • Emigration and Immigration Spreads: Male researchers have wider spreads across destination countries.

Discussion

  • Feminization of Migration: Increasingly mirrors patterns in skilled migration.
  • Persistent Heterogeneity: Some countries still show significant gender disparities.
  • Implications for Policy: Highlights need for gender-equitable science policies.

Limitations and Future Research

  • Data Limitations: Scopus bias towards English language, underrepresentation of non-English publications.
  • Future Directions: Combine data sources to enhance representativeness, improve gender detection methods.

Conclusion

  • Key Insights: Gender gap in scholarly migration is narrowing, but significant cross-national differences remain.
  • Global Science System: Continues to evolve with increasing female participation, though challenges persist.

Acknowledgments

  • Support from Leverhulme Trust and Economic and Social Research Council.

Author Contributions

  • Design, research, data analysis, and writing by X.Z., A.A., R.K., and E.Z.

References

  • References include publications from the European Commission, Elsevier, and numerous scientific studies on gender disparities in academia and migration.