Examining author gender data

I previously reported results of a study on author gender in Science ( science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/329 ) that was based on the examination of a random sample of approximately 2600 authors for which gender was inferred by painstaking analysis of websites and similar sources. Unfortunately, this approach does not scale well to large samples necessary for many analyses. We have since initiated systematic efforts to examine gender distributions of key populations of authors and reviewers for the Science family of journals using additional data and tools and plan to use this information to guide policy development and other appropriate steps to address any gender disparities.