  Solo research is a result of individual authorship decisions which accumulate
over time, accompanying academic careers. This research is the first to
comprehensively study the gender solo research gap within a whole national
system: We examine the gap through individual publication portfolios
constructed for each internationally visible Polish university professor. Solo
research is a special case of academic publishing where scientists compete
individually, sending clear signals about their research ability. Solo research
has been expected to disappear for half a century, but it continues to exist.
Our focus is on how male and female scientists of various biological ages, age
groups, academic positions, institutions, and institutional types make use of,
and benefit from, solo publishing. We tested the hypothesis that male and
female scientists differ in their use of solo publishing, and we termed this
difference the gender solo research gap. The highest share of solo research for
both genders is noted for middle-aged scientists working as associate
professors rather than for young scientists as in previous studies. The low
journal prestige level of female solo publications may suggest female
propensity to choose less competitive publication outlets. In our unique
biographical, administrative, publication, and citation database (Polish
Science Observatory), we have metadata on all Polish scientists present in
Scopus (N=25,463) and on their 158,743 Scopus-indexed articles published in
2009-2018, including 18,900 solo articles.
