8月4号的Science刊登一篇调查报告，称调查显示，女性生物科学家注册专利速度为男性的40%。这项调查调查了4227为生物科学家。
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If there is no measurable gender difference in the scholarly influence of research, what else might cause such a large gender difference in patenting? For clues, we turned to our faculty interviews, in which two factors loomed large. The first is lack of exposure to the commercial sector. Most (but not all) women had few contacts in industry. Lacking these connections, women found it time-consuming to gauge whether an idea was commercially relevant. In contrast, men often described an industry contact as a precursor to patenting. Hampered by their narrow networks and concerned about the time it would take to “shop” a patent around, several female faculty were deterred from completing a patent filing. Thus, differences in the composition of professional networks meant that the time cost of patenting was higher for many women faculty.
Several women suggested a second hurdle: concern that pursuing commercial opportunities might hinder their university careers. The women we interviewed were more likely to describe the challenges associated with balancing multiple career elements: teaching, research, and commercialization. Unlike their male counterparts, who described their patenting decisions as unproblematic and driven by translational interests, female faculty expressed concern about the potentially negative impact that patenting might have on education, collegiality, and research quality.
Our interviews also uncovered two factors that reduced the perceived costs of patenting for female faculty: collegial support and institutional assistance. Compared with men, female faculty were much more likely to be encouraged in patenting by their (typically male) coauthors, who often drove the patenting process. Whereas men sought advice from their often broad-reaching networks, women frequently depended on close relationships with male collaborators to initiate the patenting process. Formal institutional sponsorship was also particularly important for women. Many women commented that their TTO provided industry contacts, advice, and encouragement to develop the commercial aspects of their research.
最后他们认为这个趋势继续的话，以后这个差距可能会更大。