In India, gender gap narrows in scientific research

• According to a recent study by Indian and UK researchers, the number of women participating in scientific research has grown.
  
• UNESCO says the gender gap has witnessed a decline in terms of enrollment in tertiary education — after school.
  
• According to the conclusions drawn, every one in three research papers published, was written by a female author.

While India lags in the world’s list of highly-cited researchers in science and innovation with only 10 Indian scientists featuring in the list, it has significantly boosted $4 in research in dominant field including science, mathematics, gynaecology and economics among others.

A recent study published in ‘Journal of Informetrics’ has highlighted the changing scenario. Women participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Economics and Mathematics) research.

According to the $4 drawn, every one in three research papers published, was written by a female author — in over 186 fields as per the scopus database. In fact, in subjects such as dentistry, psychology and humanities, women were almost at par with men with one female author for every 1.5 male authors.

India’s gender ratio exceeds that of the US in fields such as microbiology, economics and mathematics, said the report.

The study, undertaken by Indian and UK researchers, examined over 27,000 scientific and research papers published in 2017.

More women are also taking up science during higher studies. A report by UNESCO pointed out that the gender gap has shrunk considerably in higher education in India, with nearly equal participation from both genders.

Given the feat, India can serve as an example to other countries for gender balance and women participation, according to the current scenario, Mike Thelwall, the author of study $4 Indian Science Wire.

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