Diversity
Who gets published, who gets cited and who is visible?
To assess the diversity of visibility and citations in academic papers, conferences and social media is the aim of a new joint project of the University of Hohenheim and Johannes Gutenberg- University Mainz. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research funds the project „Gender Citation Diversity“ as part of their key theme “Focus on Innovative Women“. We collaborate with the meta-IFiF meta-project, which connects all projects of the BMBF funding guideline “Focus on Innovative Women“.
Gender diversity and a fair representation of women in academia are two of the most discussed issues in academia of our time. With their results, the research group wants to contribute to an informed and most of all data-driven debate and citation practice.
If female researchers choose even slightly different research topics, if they interpret their data differently or choose to highlight different results, they have an impact on the results of their research. Whenever only people from one particular group do research and get cited, only the interests and interpretations of this particular group will be represented in society.
The more diverse the group of researchers of an issue is, the more diverse are the different perspectives present. These perspectives are necessary to achieve high quality research. When we cite and incorporate diverse research, we carry these diverse perspective into our research and therefore into society.
Project duration: 01.04.2022-31.03.2025
Contact
Prof. Dr. Michael Scharkow
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Computational Communication Science
Laura Heintz, M.A.
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Computational Communication Science
Related publications
Journals
Trepte, S. & Scharkow, M. (2024). National diversity at conferences of the International Communication Association. Annals of the International Communication Association, 48(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2023.2261018
Braun, M., Heintz, L., Kruschinski, S., Trepte, S., & Scharkow, M. (2023). Gender diversity at academic conferences — the case of the International Communication Association. Journal of Communication, 73(6), 601–615. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad032
Trepte, S. & Loths, L. (2020). National and gender diversity in communication: A content
analysis of six journals between 2006 and 2016. Annals of the International Communication Association, 44(4), 289-311. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2020.1804434
Conferences
Predictors of Reciprocal Dynamics in Publications and Citations in Communication. ICA’s 75th annual conference, Denver, Colorado, United States.
Trepte, S., Braun, M., Heintz, L., Scharkow, M. (2025, June 12-16). Tool Demo: A Tool for Assessing Citation Diversity in Communication. ICA’s 75th annual conference, Denver, Colorado, United States.<o:p></o:p>
Braun, M., Trepte, S. , Heintz, L., & Scharkow, M. (2024, September 16-19). Diversity-X: A simple tool to increase citation diversity [Tool demonstration]. Joint 53rd DGPs Conference and 15th ÖGP Conference, Vienna, Austria.
Trepte, S. (2024, September 11). Diversity-X: A simple tool to increase citation diversity [Research report]. Workshop “Diversitätssensible Lehre” at the Joint Annual Conference of the DGPuK Divisions Media, Public Spheres and Gender and Journalism Studies, Berlin, Germany.
Braun, M., Heintz, L., Jansen, A., Scharkow, M., & Trepte, S. (2024, June 12-14). Diversity-X: A Research Program to Assess and Address Gender Diversity in Communication Science [Poster Presentation]. Gender Diversity Across Europe Devising Solutions from Interdisciplinary & Intersectoral Perspectives, Bern, Switzerland.
Jansen, A. & Trepte, S. (2024, March 13-15). Wer wird in der DACH-Kommunikationswissenschaft publiziert, wer wird zitiert? Eine scientometrische Analyse des Gender-Citation und -Publication Gaps. [Research report]. Jährliche Konferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK), Erfurt, Germany.
Heintz, L., Büttner, J., & Scharkow, M. (2023, November 8-10). Gender differences in communication scientists’ Twitter communication [Research report, Best Paper Award 2. Preis]. Joint Annual Conference of the DGPuK-Divisions Digital Communication and Media, Public Spheres and Gender, Vienna, Austria.
Jansen, A. & Trepte, S. (2023, September 6-8). Oh Boy!? Publication and Citation Gaps Among Male and Female Communication Researchers in the DACH region [Research report]. 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division of the German Psychological Association (DGPs), Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
Heintz, L. & Scharkow, M. (2023, May 30). Gender differences in communication scientists’ Twitter activities [Research report]. Authentic Voices in Science Communication Postconference to the ICA’s 73rd annual conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Braun, M., Heintz, L., Kruschinski, S., Trepte, S., & Scharkow, M. (2023, May 25-29). Gender diversity at academic conferences - The case of the International Communication Association (ICA) [Poster presentation]. ICA’s 73rd annual conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Braun, M., Heintz, L., Kruschinski, S., Trepte, S., & Scharkow, M. (2023, May 18-20). Geschlechterdiversität auf wissenschaftlichen Konferenzen - Entwicklung und Einflussfaktoren am Beispiel der ICA-Konferenzen von 2005 bis 2022 [Research report]. Jährliche Konferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK), Bremen, Germany.
Trepte, S., Scharkow, M. (2022, May 26-30). Are all of us invited to the party? National diversity of ICA conferences and membership. ICA’s 72nd annual conference, Paris, France.
Invited talks
Braun, M. (2024, December 9). Diversity-X: A simple tool to increase citation diversity. Colloquium of the Institute of Social, Environmental and Economic Psychology, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau. Landau, Germany.
Contributions to professional associations
Braun, M. (2025, March 11). Diversity-X: Ein Tool zur Messung der Gender- und nationalen Zitations-Diversität.Online Veranstaltung der Jungmitglieder Sozialpsychologie anlässlich des Weltfrauentages, Online.
Trepte, S. (2024, September 11). Diversity-X: A simple tool to increase citation diversity [Research report]. Workshop “Diversitätssensible Lehre” at the Joint Annual Conference of the DGPuK Divisions Media, Public Spheres and Gender and Journalism Studies, Berlin, Germany.
Trepte, S., Scharkow, M., Braun, M., Heintz, L., Jansen, A. & Kruschinski, S. (2023, October 20) Gender Diversity in Communication Research [Input]. Auftaktworkshop des Gertrude J. Robinson Mentoring Programm der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK), Potsdam, Germany.
Trepte, S., Scharkow, M., & Jansen, A. (2023, May 18-20). Arbeitskreis Publikationsdiversität – Diversität und Sichtbarkeit in der DACH-Kommunikationswissenschaft [Working group presentation]. Jährliche Konferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK), Bremen, Germany.
Network meeting of the meta project "Innovative Frauen im Fokus"
Braun, M., Trepte, S. (2025, March 21). Diversity-X: Ein Tool zur Messung der Gender- und nationalen Zitations-Diversität. Innovativ – Exzellent – Sichtbar: Frauen in Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Fachtagung der BMBF-Förderrichtlinie „Innovative Frauen im Fokus“. Berlin, Germany
Braun, M. (2024, December 11). Leaky Pipeline in der Kommunikationswissenschaft: Wo stehen wir, wie geht es weiter?. Meta IFiF Impulse. Online.
Braun, M. & Scharfenkamp, K. (2023, September 28-29). Sichtbarkeit und Wahrnehmung von Wissenschaftlerinnen auf internationalen wissenschaftlichen Konferenzen [Workshop]. IFiF-vernetzt – Vernetzungsveranstaltung der BMBF-Förderrichtlinie „Innovative Frauen im Fokus“, Berlin, Germany.
Braun, M. (2022, October 24-25). Auf dem Weg zu mehr Sichtbarkeit: Innovative Frauen im Fokus. Panelmitglied Diskussionspanel im Rahmen des 1. Vernetzungstreffen der Förderrichtlinie Innovative Frauen im Fokus des Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. Bonn, Germany.
