Applying an Intersectional Lens to Author Composition at Women's Colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic Serving Institutions in the United States

Our analysis reinforces the overrepresentation of White authors across institution types, even within those with missions or threshold-based criteria that primarily serve a non-White student population. The most striking observation from our institutional analysis was the proportional overrepresentation of White and Asian men and women as published authors at HBCUs. This statistic raises questions regarding support needed to facilitate the work of Black academics, and the persistent structural barriers within the higher education industry that lead to the continued underrepresentation of Black women and men in academia. Future research should explore these findings with survey and/or interview data to unpack these patterns; and identify the racialized and gendered, motivational and institutional factors that drive publication rates by race/ethnicity and gender of authors at these institutions over time.

Despite the overwhelming majority of White authors, our analysis suggests that HBCUs, HSIs, and women’s colleges represent authors from their respective target populations to a degree that is higher than expected among all authors. However, a comparison with the U.S. population shows an overrepresentation of Asian authors and the analysis by doctoral graduates suggests an overrepresentation of Black men. These analyses suggest that the data are highly sensitive to normalization, with each approach reflecting a different set of inequities to content within the U.S. author population. This study sets a platform for future work on how institutions shape diversification of scientific knowledge within the U.S. context.