Female participation in science in the past 125 years: An analysis of the Matilda effect over time

2026-07-16

AI Summary

This study systematically investigates the Matilda effect—the systematic undervaluation of women’s contributions in science—tracing its global evolution from 1900 to the present. Leveraging a corpus of over 220 million academic publications spanning 1900–2025, and integrating gender inference algorithms with corresponding author identification, this work provides the first long-term, global-scale dynamic assessment of the phenomenon. Findings reveal that women’s participation in research has risen from approximately 10% in the 1910s to over 40% in recent years. While the Matilda effect was pervasive throughout the twentieth century, it has markedly attenuated over the past two decades: health sciences and Latin America now approach gender parity, whereas physical sciences and regions in Asia continue to exhibit pronounced disparities. The study thus elucidates historical trends and cross-regional, cross-disciplinary heterogeneity in the gender gap in scholarly leadership.

Abstract

The Matilda effect describes the systematic under-recognition of women's scientific contributions. We investigated its historical evolution by analyzing over 220 million publications (1900-2025) from OpenAlex, inferring the gender of roughly 60 million authors. To quantify this under-recognition, we calculated the ratio between the overall share of female authors and female corresponding authors. Because corresponding authorship denotes intellectual leadership and primary academic credit, systematic exclusion from this role directly measures the Matilda effect. Our analysis reveals that overall female participation rose from approximately 10% in the 1910s to over 40% recently. For most of the 20th century, women were disproportionately excluded from corresponding authorship, confirming a historical Matilda effect. However, this trend inverted over the past two decades, indicating a global decline. Despite this overall progress, distinct disparities persist: the physical sciences and Asian countries lag behind, whereas the health sciences and Latin America approach gender parity.

Problem

• Matilda effect
• gender disparity
• scientific authorship
• corresponding author
• female participation

Innovation

• Matilda effect
• gender disparity
• corresponding authorship
• large-scale bibliometric analysis
• scientific credit