The data underlying Figs 1A–1F and 2A–2D.

Scientific communities need to understand and eliminate barriers that prevent people with diverse backgrounds from contributing to and participating in science. However, the combined impact of individuals’ linguistic, economic, and gender backgrounds on their scientific productivity is poorly understood. Using a survey of 908 environmental scientists, we show that being a woman is associated with up to a 45% reduction in the number of English-language publications, compared to men. Being a woman, a non-native English speaker, and from a low-income country is associated with up to a 70% reduction, compared to male native English speakers from a high-income country. The linguistic and economic productivity gap narrows when based on the total number of English- and non-English-language publications. We call for an explicit effort to consider linguistic, economic, and gender backgrounds and incorporate non-English-language publications when assessing the performance and contribution of scientists.

科研共同体亟需厘清并消除阻碍背景多元群体参与科研、为科研作出贡献的各类壁垒。然而，学界对个体的语言、经济与性别背景对其科研产出的综合影响仍知之甚少。我们通过对908名环境科学家开展的调查研究发现，相较于男性科研人员，女性科研人员的英文发表论文数量最多可减少45%。若同时为女性、非英语母语者且来自低收入国家，相较于来自高收入国家的男性英语母语者，其发表论文数量最多可减少70%。若将英文与非英文发表论文总数纳入考量，则语言与经济层面的科研产出差距会有所收窄。我们呼吁在评估科研人员的表现与贡献时，应主动考量其语言、经济与性别背景，并纳入非英文发表论文的相关数据。