Research
My research examines how evaluation systems that appear objective reproduce gender hierarchies across scientific and cultural fields. I ask: whose contributions are recognized as valuable, and whose are discounted? Across two lines of work, I trace how gender bias operates through everyday evaluation practices and accumulates into durable inequalities.
My methods include computational text analysis, bibliometric analysis, and survey experiments.
Gender and Scientific Evaluation
Scientific recognition is rarely neutral. My work in this area investigates how gender shapes which knowledge claims are treated as authoritative, how novelty is attributed and rewarded, and how uncertainty is managed differently depending on who makes a claim.
Related works
- Conditionally AcceptedGender & Society
Lee, Jina. "The Gender of Scientific Authority: Novelty Claims and Gender Gaps in Scientific Impact Across Disciplines."
- Under Review
Lee, Jina. "The Theory Penalty: Gender Bias in Recognition of Scientific Novelty."
Manuscript available on request.
- In Progress
Lee, Jina. "Who Faces More Doubt in Crisis? Gendered Patterns of Uncertainty in Reception of High-Stakes Science."
Leahey, Erin, Jina Lee, Russell J. Funk. (2023). What Types of Novelty Are Most Disruptive? American Sociological Review, 88(3): 562–597.DOI ↗
Gender, Culture, and Markets
Literary canons are socially constructed. My work in this area examines how canonization processes in Korean literature embed gender biases and how those biases persist even when evaluation criteria appear gender-neutral.
Related works
Lee, Jina. (2025). Gendered Pathways to Perpetual Fame: The Selection of Elite Novelists into the Korean Literary Canon. Poetics, 112.DOI ↗
Zhao, Yi, Jina Lee, Cheryl Ellenwood. (2021). The Persistent Influence of Gender Stereotypes in Social Entrepreneurial Financing. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 15(3): 811–832.DOI ↗
Science and Academia
Scientific knowledge is shaped not only by what researchers study but by how scientific communities are organized. This line of work examines how structural features of academic fields—audience segmentation, publication norms, and data practices—influence the production, reach, and epistemic character of scientific knowledge.
Related works
- Working Paper
Paik, Eugene T., Jina Lee, Erin Leahey, Russell Funk. "Divide and Conquer? How Partitioned Audiences Shape the Impact of Domain-Spanning Innovation."
Manuscript available on request.
- In Progress
Bratt, Sarah, Erin Leahey, Yea-Eun Kwon, Charles Lassiter, Jina Lee, Charles Gomez. "Do Journal Data Sharing Requirements Promote Humility in Scientific Articles?"
Other Work
Not all evaluation concerns recognition or prestige. This work examines how social categorization and framing shape judgments of who deserves protection and resources.
Related works
Lee, Jina, Minjae Seo, Erin Leahey. (2022). Who Deserves Protection? How Naming Potential Beneficiaries Influences COVID-19 Vaccine Intentions. Socius, 8.DOI ↗