Citation Impact of Women in Social Work: Exploring Gender and Research Culture

Purpose: This study assessed citation impact scholarship of women in the top 25-ranked schools of social work in the U.S. We sought the answer to one simple question: who were the high impact female scholars in our top-ranked schools? Rationale: This study had two rationales. First, was to add to our knowledge-building journey in this area. Second, was to acknowledge the top-25 female scholars in social work. Method: We used a mixed-methodology. Part one was a secondary data analysis of the top-25 U.S. News and World Report ranked schools from 2012 using the well-regarded h-index developed by Hirsh and available on the free software, Publish or Perish over a ten year period. Qualitative interviews were conducted with graduates from the top-5 ranked schools to gain additional data about student perception of institutional scholarship. We then examined the faculty websites of the top quartile of these scholars. Results: The score ranges were from h=12 to 45, with a mean score of M = 18.64 (SD = 9.79). A t-test determined no statistically significant difference between private and public institutions. The majority of women on this ranking were employed at the University of Washington (N=6), followed by Columbia University and the Universities of Southern California (N=3 respectively), Michigan and California at Berkeley (N=2 respectively). Eleven (44%) of these women were employed at the same universities where they received their final degrees. Also, the majority received their final degrees at the University of Michigan (N=6) followed by the University of Washington (N=4) and University of California at Berkeley (N=2). Discussion: This was the fifth knowledge-building study in this series. The overall mean impact scores for these women are significant given the research in this field and speak to a number of factors. First is their negotiating systemic and structural variables which have often mitigated the success of female faculties in academia in general, and social work in particular. Second is the preponderance of top ranked schools of social work as being not only ‘the finishing schools’ for research and scholarship of these women but many also chose to return to these schools to advance their career trajectories. Student data yielded ten variables which are construed as elements of top-ranked research cultures from a ‘bottom-up’ perspective. We conclude acknowledging our top female scholars in social work and continue to describe elements of research cultures in schools of social work, which are essential to our profession’s academic development in today’s corporate university cultures.