Abstract
Women researchers sometimes use their birth names as middle names or employ hyphenation of the birth name and the married surname in their professional lives. However, this practice, when combined with other factors, can inhibit dissemination of their published work. These factors include ERIC’s policy of listing writers by “first author and others” and the APA policy of listing cited references by last name and first initials. The Institute for Scientific Information’s citation software uses “first author only” by last name and initials to locate citations. Because published articles and citation counts are used as indicators of the caliber of candidates, these established policies can be detrimental to tenure and promotion decisions for women researchers. A reexamination of these database policies can benefit women researchers. Recommendations include steps that women can take to improve the indexing of their work.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.