Meta-research: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gender gap in research productivity within academia.

Measuring research productivity to gauge academic performance is flawed because it is biased against certain groups of researchers. Women researchers are disadvantaged because gender roles and unconscious biases, operating both at home and in academia, can affect research productivity. Here, we bring together existing studies to show that the gender gap in research productivity increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the relative research productivity of women declining compared to the pre-pandemic period.