Gender differences in publication productivity: narrowing the gap

Abstract

The number of scientific publication by a country is an important indication of its science generation and development. The aim of this study was to compare publication output among university faculty in selected public and private universities in Kenya by gender. Publications, in refereed research journals, were used as a surrogate for research productivity. Survey research design was employed in this study. Questionnaires were used to collect information from university academic staff drawn from public and private universities. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 15 was used to aid in data analysis where cross-tabulations, correlations and ANOVA computations were made. The results obtained from this study indicated that research productivity among different gender of the academic staff do not differ significantly. These findings justify the need to develop national and institutional research policies to guide and manage research in Kenya. Also, academic staff across the ranks should be motivated so as to increase their research productivity.