This study examines mentorship in scientific collaborations, focusing on the support junior scientists receive from senior collaborators without formal supervisory roles. Analyzing 3 million mentor-protégé pairs and a survey verifying mentorship relationships, the study finds that mentorship quality significantly predicts the scientific impact of protégés' post-mentorship publications. Interestingly, increasing the proportion of female mentors correlates with reduced post-mentorship impact for female protégés and reduced gains for female mentors. These findings challenge current diversity policies favoring same-gender mentorships and suggest that opposite-gender mentorship might enhance the impact of women in science.

Bedoor AlShebli, Kinga Makovi, Talal Rahwan