Women who choose to get married often also face another decision鈥攚hether or not to change their last name.
But for researchers who are published in academic journals, a marital name change may make it difficult for others to find their work.
鈥淐urrently, there is no consistent way for a researcher to update their publication record to reflect a name change due to a marriage or divorce,鈥� says , an assistant professor of environmental studies. 鈥淭his can be especially problematic when a researcher applies for grants or tenure, as a reviewer may conclude that the researcher has not done enough work in the field, when they may not have been evaluating the entire record.鈥�
Chaudhary, who opted to keep her family name when she married, is the author of a recent which explores how marital name change affects female researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In her piece, Chaudhary says that 鈥渢he stakes are high鈥� because relationship status and name discrimination contribute to and inequities in faculty hiring. Her commentary was published in Nature Microbiology to coincide with Women鈥檚 History Month.
鈥淢arital name change is a major personal and professional decision for which race, ethnicity, and culture also may play a vital role,鈥� says Chaudhary. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a decision that can be overwhelming.鈥�
Women must determine if they want to keep their name, change their name, hyphenate it, add a middle name, create a new name with their partner, and/or use specific names for professional and personal contexts.
To navigate this decision, Chaudhary proposes adopting a centralized system to retroactively streamline name changes across publications. She also would like to incorporate conversations around marital name change into mentor training for those who advise students.
鈥淒eciding whether to change your name with marriage is a common conversation that women scientists are having with each other, and it鈥檚 important to get this on everyone鈥檚 radar,鈥� says Chaudhary.
