Gender inequality in academic promotion: Evidence from researchers’ career trajectories in Japan

Gender inequality in academic promotion: Evidence from researchers’ career trajectories in Japan | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Gender inequality in academic promotion: Evidence from researchers’ career trajectories in Japan Rongkang Pei, Zeyu Lyu, Guolong Wang, Zhichao Wang, Maoxin Ye, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8731812/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Despite growing awareness of the lack of gender equity in academia, women's disadvantages in many aspects, including academic promotion, remain a persistent issue. Using career-trajectory data for 78,208 researchers from Japan’s researchmap platform, this study examines gender inequality in promotion trajectories across two key transitions: PhD to associate professor, and associate professor to full professor. Specifically, we examine how gender gaps in promotion time vary across cohorts, disciplines, and career stages, and further assess their associations with career-history and institutional factors. The results show pronounced heterogeneity over time and across fields. Gender disparities in promotion time are more significant in early-career transitions than in later transitions, although gaps have narrowed in more recent cohorts. However, substantial inequalities persist in both Humanities and STEM disciplines and are associated with the type of initial position, postdoctoral experience, inter-institutional mobility, disciplinary context, and university sector (public vs. private). By foregrounding promotion timeline as a core dimension of career stratification, this study dicusses how institutional structures and environments differentially shape academic career advancement by gender, providing evidence relevant to Japan and comparable academic systems. Social science/Education Social science/Science technology and society gender inequality academic promotion promotion timeline the development of academic career Japanese higher education Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Supplementary.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 09 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 06 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 02 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 27 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 25 Feb, 2026 Editor invited by journal 12 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 05 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 05 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8731812","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":599228576,"identity":"c896bb69-791c-457d-bff5-795d08242339","order_by":0,"name":"Rongkang Pei","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tohoku University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rongkang","middleName":"","lastName":"Pei","suffix":""},{"id":599228581,"identity":"91744b7f-f4ed-425d-9197-42f95d3aacc1","order_by":1,"name":"Zeyu 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