Women Enter Too, but Men Persist:The Temporal Structure of Gender Inequality in the Global Citation Elite

Abstract

In this research, I analyze the gender dynamics of the global citation elite using annual top 2% Stanford/Elsevier lists for 2019-2024. My database includes 1.22 million person-year observations (N=1,221,363), which corresponds to 465,707 unique scientists and scholars from more than 150 countries. I move away from static representations of women in the citation elite toward analyses of entry, exit, and permanent membership in the durable core of this elite. The share of women in the annual citation elite increased from 18.39% in 2019 to 20.98% in 2024. However, women are more strongly represented among first-observed entrants than among continuing members, and their share decreases with the persistence of their presence among the citation elite expressed in years: from 22.19% among single-year members to 17.84% among scientists and scholars present in all six annual lists. Women are generally located closer to the lower boundary of the elite in terms of the citation index deciles - and men are closer to top deciles. My logistic regression models estimate a lower probability of women s membership in the durable core of the citation elite (odds ratio estimate OR=0.69). Women are also more weakly represented in the all-career elite than in the annual elite (15.87% vs. 20.98%). I draw conclusions about gender dynamics within the global citation elite and gender inequalities in science more generally.