  We examine gender differences in collaboration networks and academic career
progression in physics. We use the likelihood and time to become a principal
investigator (PI) and the length of an author's career to measure career
progression. Utilising logistic regression and accelerated failure time models,
we examine whether the effect of collaboration behaviour varies by gender. We
find that, controlling for the number of publications, the relationship between
collaborative behaviour and career progression is almost the same for men and
women. Specifically, we find that those who eventually reach principal
investigator (PI) status, tend to have published with more unique
collaborators. In contrast, publishing repeatedly with the same highly
interconnected collaborators and/or larger number of coauthors per publication
is characteristic of shorter career lengths and those that do not attain PI
status. We observe that the tie strength is stronger for women than men, and
women tend to collaborate in more tightly connected and larger groups than men.
Finally, we observe that women are less likely to attain the status of PI
throughout their careers and have a lower survival probability compared to men,
which calls for policies to close this crucial gap.
