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The results show overall and geocultural patterns as well as individual national differences. Almost half of the subjects were always more male (seven; e.g., Mathematics) or always more female (six; e.g., Immunology &amp; Microbiology) than the national average. A strong overall trend (Spearman correlation 0.546) is for countries with a higher proportion of female first-authored research to also have larger differences in gender disparities between fields (correlation 0.314 for gender ratios). This confirms the international gender equality paradox previously found for degree subject choices: Increased gender equality overall associates with moderately greater gender differentiation between subjects. This is consistent with previous United States-based claims that gender differences in academic careers are partly due to (socially constrained) gender differences in personal preferences. Radical solutions may therefore be needed for some STEM subjects to overcome gender disparities. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1162\/qss_a_00050","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,28]],"date-time":"2020-05-28T19:05:22Z","timestamp":1590692722000},"page":"1260-1282","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1162\/mitpressjournals.corrections.policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["A gender equality paradox in academic publishing: Countries with a higher proportion of female first-authored journal articles have larger first-author gender disparities between fields"],"prefix":"10.1162","volume":"1","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6065-205X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Mike","family":"Thelwall","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1LY, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5927-424X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Amalia","family":"Mas-Bleda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1LY, UK"}]}],"member":"281","reference":[{"key":"bib1","volume-title":"Annual Data Report 2017\u20132018","author":"AAVMC","year":"2019"},{"issue":"4","key":"bib2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"369","DOI":"10.1080\/09540250500145072","volume":"17","author":"Blickenstaff J. 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