The average number of publications for top female scientists is 547, says new research study

POSTED ON Nov 09, 2022

Research dot com, a platform created by scientists for scientists, has released its Best Female Scientists in the World list for 2022.

According to the website, the ranking of 166,800 female scientists is based on data collected from Microsoft Academic Graph and Google Scholar in June 2021.

Position in the ranking is based on a scientist’s general H-index, which is the proportion of the contributions made within a discipline in addition to the awards and achievements of the scientists. Only the top 1000 female scientists with the highest H-index are featured in the ranking, the website said.

“We are painfully aware that academic research is still a predominantly male profession, and we believe that female scientists deserve an equal chance to be represented and praised for their achievements,” Research dot com wrote. “Our aim is to inspire female scholars, women considering an academic career, as well as decision-makers worldwide with the example of successful women in the scientific community. We hope that it will contribute to providing more opportunities and equal chances for women in science.

Key Findings from the 2022 Edition of the World Ranking of Female Scientists

Scientists from the United States dominate the list of top female scientists in the world with 623 scholars from this country being ranked in 2022 (62.3% of the whole ranking).

Eight out of 10 female scientists in the top 1% are from the United States.

The best female scientists in the world are publishing their work predominantly in the field of medicine.

Harvard University is the leader of the 2022 edition of the top female scientists in the world ranking, with 40 leading female scholars affiliated with that institution.

The best female scientist in the world is Professor JoAnn E. Manson from Harvard Medical School, known for her pioneering research in the fields of epidemiology and women’s health.

American universities constitute 90% of the top 10 leading institutions with the highest number of leading female scientists, with the only other institution among them being Oxford University (ranked 6th).

The average number of publications for top female scientists is 547.

In a February 2022 news feature published by Nature (“The giant plan to track diversity in research journals”), Holly Else and Jeffrey M. Perkel reported that in 2023, more than 50 publishers representing over 15,000 journals are preparing to ask scientists about their race or ethnicity — as well as their gender — in an initiative that’s part of a growing effort to analyze researcher diversity around the world.

According to the multidisciplinary science journal, publishers say that this information, gathered and stored securely, will help to analyze who is represented in journals, and to identify whether there are biases in editing or review that sway which findings get published.