School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation and Centre for Healthcare Transformation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Elife. 2022 Apr 4;11:e76123. doi: 10.7554/eLife.76123.
When researchers' careers are disrupted by life events - such as illness or childbirth - they often need to take extended time off. This creates a gap in their research output that can reduce their chances of winning funding. In Australia, applicants can disclose their career disruptions and peer reviewers are instructed to make appropriate adjustments. However, it is not clear if and how applicants use career disruption sections or how reviewers adjust and if they do it consistently.
To examine career disruption, we used surveys of the Australian health and medical research community. We used both a random sample of Australian authors on and a non-random convenience sample.
Respondents expressed concerns that sharing information on career disruption would harm their chances of being funded, with 13% saying they have medical or social circumstances but would not include it in their application, with concerns about appearing 'weak'. Women were more reluctant to include disruption. There was inconsistency in how disruption was adjusted for, with less time given for those with depression compared with caring responsibilities, and less time given for those who did not provide medical details of their disruption.
The current system is likely not adequately adjusting for career disruption and this may help explain the ongoing funding gap for senior women in Australia.
National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship (Barnett).
当研究人员的生活事件（如疾病或分娩）扰乱他们的职业生涯时，他们通常需要长时间休假。这会在他们的研究成果中造成空白，从而降低他们获得资金的机会。在澳大利亚，申请人可以披露他们的职业中断情况，同行评审员被指示进行适当的调整。然而，目前尚不清楚申请人是否以及如何使用职业中断部分，或者评审员如何进行调整，以及他们是否一致地进行调整。
为了研究职业中断，我们对澳大利亚卫生和医疗研究界进行了调查。我们既使用了澳大利亚作者的随机样本，也使用了非随机方便样本。
受访者表示担心分享职业中断信息会损害他们获得资金的机会，有 13%的人表示他们有医疗或社会状况，但不会在申请中包括这些信息，因为担心显得“脆弱”。女性更不愿意包括中断情况。对于中断情况的调整不一致，与照顾责任相比，患有抑郁症的人获得的时间较少，并且对于那些没有提供中断医疗细节的人给予的时间也较少。
目前的系统可能没有充分调整职业中断情况，这可能有助于解释澳大利亚资深女性持续存在的资金差距。
澳大利亚国家卫生和医学研究委员会资深研究奖学金（Barnett）。
