The Citation Analysis was conducted by UMass Lowell Science Librarian Marion Muskiewicz.
The Working W.I.S.E. citation analysis was conducted to identify what scholars have been writing about workplace barriers for women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and which of their articles have been most frequently cited by others. The main goals were to uncover the work that has been most influential in this area of research and to trace research themes over time. We were most interested in research articles that have appeared in scholarly outlets and that directly address the issue of work barriers. We began the literature search and citation analysis by establishing some initial parameters that we felt would focus the analysis on our particular goals. Thus we decided to include articles that 1) were published from 1970 to the present, 2) were peer reviewed and 3) address workplace factors that influence the recruitment, retention and promotion of women in STEM fields. We decided to exclude articles primarily about the educational system and pipeline issues. These topics are being actively addressed by others, and thus are not the primary focus on the Working WISE Project.
A large database of 1,036 items (86 books or book chapters, 123 conference papers, 13 reports and 814 journal articles) were reviewed in order to narrow our focus to particular goals. We reviewed articles 1) that were published from 1970 to the present, 2) were peer reviewed and 3) addressed factors that influence the recruitment, retention and promotion of women in STEM fields. As a result 285 were designated as “Key articles”. The Key articles were further reviewed and cut back from 87 to 46 based on our criteria which included 1) Number of times cited 2) Important authors in the field represented 3) Authors from different generations represented 4) Knowledge base of our Principal Investigator (Paula Rayman). See the full Citation Analysis Methodology (pdf).