Gender differences in research diversification behavior

This work investigates whether and in what measure there occur gender differences in research diversification behavior by scientists. We analyze the nature of research diversification along three dimensions: extent of diversification, intensity of diversification, and degree of relatedness of topics in which researchers diversify. For this purpose we propose three bibliometric indicators, based on the disciplinary placement of scientific output of individual scientists. By classifying scientists by gender and field of research, we are able to assess gender differences along the above three dimensions in each field.