Gender comparisons of Israeli social work faculty using h-index scores

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of gender and faculty rank to determine their contribution to individual variance in research productivity for doctoral social work faculty in Israel.

Design/methodology/approach

H-index scores were used to assess research productivity. Quantitative comparisons of the h-index scores were performed for a sample (n=92) of social work faculty from Israeli universities with social work doctoral programs. Average h-index differences were assessed between genders at each tenure-track faculty rank and between faculty ranks for each gender.

Findings

Scholarly impact varied as a function of faculty rank. There was little indication of variance due to gender or the interaction of gender and rank. The average h-index of male faculty was higher than the mean h-index for women at the rank of lecturer and full professor. Women had a higher mean h-index than men at the rank of senior lecturer and associate professor. H-index means varied most at the full professor level.

Originality/value

Results were congruent with previous studies demonstrating that male faculty in the social sciences have higher overall h-index scores than women. However, this study was unique in its finding that this gap was reversed for Israeli social work faculty at the senior lecturer and associate professor. Further research is needed to examine the differences in publication patterns of social work faculty in different countries.

Citation

Panisch, L.S., Smith, T.E., Carter, T.E. and Osteen, P.J. (2017), "Gender comparisons of Israeli social work faculty using h-index scores", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 439-447. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-01-2017-0007