Gender-balanced teams produce more innovative research

Research teams with a balanced number of men and women have a higher likelihood of producing more innovative and impactful work compared with their unbalanced counterparts. That’s according to a study from researchers at Michigan State University (MSU), Northwestern University, New York University and the University of Notre Dame, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team evaluated millions of scientific papers published since the year 2000 in 45 different medical research subfields with an eye towards two key metrics: one was novelty, or the degree to which a paper combined existing ideas in innovative ways; and the other was impact, measured by a paper’s total number of citations.

Using an algorithm to infer the gender of the authors from their names, the researchers also found the gender ratio of each paper’s authorship team, though they could not account for non-binary authors. Taking that limitation and other variables into account, the researchers were still able to conclusively show that mixed-gender teams produced work that significantly surpassed the average in terms of novelty and impact.

Furthermore, teams that had an equal number of men and women — or close to it — had a highest likelihood of novel and impactful results. Gender-balanced teams with six or more members were nearly 10% more likely to publish novel work than the base rate, and almost 15% more likely to be among the most highly cited papers.

The conclusions held in all 45 medical subfields the team studied, and the strengths of mixed-gender teams were apparent whether teams were led by a man or a woman. Preliminary work published with the report also indicates that the team’s findings are generalisable across scientific disciplines beyond medicine.

“The ability to do these kinds of big data studies provides a prismatic view on the ways we understand success in the sciences and ways to work toward bigger impact,” said MSU Provost Teresa K Woodruff, PhD, who is an author on the new report. “We all believe that diversity increases impact, and this new paper proves that statement.”

MSU Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Jabbar R Bennett, PhD, echoed this sentiment.

“These findings support and expand what we know anecdotally about the value of diverse teams in search of answers to challenging questions both within and beyond the laboratory,” Bennett said. “Diversity drives innovation and excellence in scientific research, and accelerates the pathway toward discovery.”

Previous research offers insights into why these benefits may occur, with Bennett saying diverse teams “utilise innovative and nuanced approaches to problem-solving, often informed by personal experience and through an equity lens”. Senior author Brian Uzzi, from Northwestern University, added that teams with an equal gender balance may achieve a “Goldilocks level” of divergent thinking, balanced by communication processes that promote listening to and building off of each other’s ideas.

The team’s analysis shows that research teams have trended towards a more equal gender balance over the past two decades, yet teams still usually have more men and fewer women than would be expected by putting together a team at random. That means there’s a fairly straightforward step that most research teams can take as they try to push their work to new levels of impact and innovation.

“Collaborating with more diversity in your team can lead to higher impact,” Woodruff said. “I encourage everyone, in all disciplines, to see how diversity is a key to academic success and excellence.”

Image credit: iStock.com/gorodenkoff

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