🚀 AI tools are helping scientists publish more papers and get promoted faster, based on an analysis of over 40 million academic papers.

📈 However, this surge in AI-assisted research is leading to a narrowing of scientific inquiry, with studies clustering around the same popular problems and generating less novel engagement.

🔬 This creates a tension between individual career advancement and collective scientific progress, potentially leading to conformity and reduced originality in research.

#AIinScience #Research #Academia

🎓 A new study in Econometrica reveals a significant "class gap" in U.S. tenure-track academia. First-generation college graduates are 10% less likely to be tenured at R1 institutions, are tenured at institutions ranked 11% lower, earn 3% less, and report 5% lower job satisfaction than their peers with parents holding graduate degrees.

🔬 This class gap isn't explained by individuals leaving academia, different career preferences, or even differing research productivity. The study suggests that differences in cultural and social capital are the likely drivers of this disparity.

💼 The research, led by Anna Stansbury and Kyra Rodriguez, also found a similar class gap in career progression for PhDs working in industry, indicating the issue may be widespread beyond academia.

#DEI #Academia #CareerProgression