Gender Authorship Trends in the Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Literature

Gender inclusivity of ophthalmology journal submission guidelines and associated research metrics

PURPOSE

This cross-sectional study evaluated the prevalence of inclusive author submission guidelines across ophthalmology journals.

METHODS

Journals were identified from the 2021 Journal Citations Report (Clarivate Analytics). Independent reviewers rated each author submission guideline as "inclusive" for satisfying at-least one of six criteria: i) included examples of gender inclusive language; ii) recommended the use of gender-inclusive language; iii) distinguished between sex and gender; iv) provided educational resources on gender-inclusive language; v) provided a policy permitting name changes (e.g., in case of gender and name transition); and/or vi) provided a statement of commitment to inclusivity. The primary objective was to investigate the proportion of journals with "gender-inclusive" author submission guidelines and the elements of the gender-inclusive content within these guidelines. A secondary objective was to review the association between "gender-inclusivity" in author submission guidelines with publisher, origin country, and journal/source/influence metrics (Clarivate Analytics).

RESULTS

Across 94 journals, 29.8% journals were rated as inclusive. Inclusive journals had significantly higher relative impact factor, citations, and article influence scores compared to non-inclusive journals. Of the 29.8% of inclusive journals, the three most common domains were inclusion of an inclusivity statement (71.4% of inclusive journals), distinguishing between sex and gender (67.9%), and provision of additional educational resources on gender reporting for authors (60.7%).

CONCLUSION

A minority of ophthalmology journals have gender-inclusive author submission guidelines. Ophthalmology journals should update their submission guidelines to advance gender equity of both authors and study participants and promote the inclusion of gender-diverse communities.

The status of women in academic ophthalmology: Authorship of papers, presentations, and academic promotions

As the field of ophthalmology has evolved in the last several decades, so has the gender distribution of ophthalmologists. We conducted a narrative review to further characterise the status of women in the realm of publication, presentations, editorial positions, grants, academic promotion, and financial compensation. While the proportion of women publishing, presenting, and filling academic and editorial roles has increased over time, it still does not match that of men. Women are more likely to be first authors instead of senior authors, have lower average h-indices, and are awarded fewer grants. The magnitude of some of these differences is smaller when adjusted for women's shorter career duration on average. Despite increased representation of women in ophthalmology, women continue to receive less compensation for the same work. This review highlights that more can be done to improve gender parity in ophthalmology.

Authorship Trends and Disparities in Cardiothoracic Surgery

BACKGROUND

Previous investigations have revealed significant gender disparities in the academic arenas of cardiothoracic surgery. However, the status of gender representation in cardiothoracic publications has not been well described. This study aimed to evaluate authorship trends by gender in two high-impact cardiothoracic surgical journals.

METHODS

In this bibliometric analysis, PubMed was searched for articles published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery and the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery from 2010 to 2021. The web-based application Genderize.io was used to classify names of first and last authors as men vs women. The Cochran-Armitage trend test and multivariable logistic regression were used to evaluate authorship per year and the association of first and last author gender, respectively.

RESULTS

Among 14,443 articles, 16.7% had women first authors and 8.1% had women last authors. The proportion of articles written by women authors increased, rising from 12.6% to 21.1% (P < .0001) for first and 5.4% to 11.5% (P < .0001) for last authors. Papers written with women as first author were associated with 2.0 higher odds of having a woman as last author (95% CI, 1.7-2.3; P < .0001). The mean number of last author publications was higher for men than for women (2.4 vs 1.7, P < .0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Over the past decade, despite a welcomed increase in women authorship in high-impact journals in cardiothoracic surgery, women represent a small proportion of published authors. Women first authors are more likely to publish with women last authors, demonstrating the impact of same-gender collaborations while emphasizing a need for cross-gender mentorship.

Gender Disparities in First Authorship in Publications Related to Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder (ADHD) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The medical profession has experienced a significant increase in the number of women practitioners in recent decades, leading to a reduction in the gender gap. According to the United States Medical Association, approximately 25% of physicians in the United States are now women. Although this progress is evident in the clinical setting, women's representation in academic medicine remains disproportionately low. The underrepresentation of women in academia has various consequences, including limited access to academic resources and hindered career growth. Previous studies have attempted to analyze these disparities, but results have been inconsistent, and the issue's complexity has not been fully understood. This study aims to examine the disparity in the gender of first authors in academic publications related to " Artificial intelligence (AI) and Attention Deficit Hyperkinetic Disorder (ADHD)" between 2010 and 2023. Analysis was conducted on June 21st, 2023, using the database PubMed. The search term "AI" AND "ADHD" was used to derive all articles over a period of 13 years, from January 1st, 2010, to December 31st, 2022, excluding the year 2023 due to limited available publications. The relevant articles were downloaded in Microsoft Excel sheets. The gender of the first authors was determined using the NamSor app V.2, an application programming interface (API) with a large dataset of names and countries of origin. A total of 204 articles were considered for this study. There were 78 female first authors and 126 male first authors. The highest number of publications with a male first author occurred in 2022, with 32 publications. The Netherlands, Singapore, Turkey, and China have the highest gender ratios, indicating a more favourable representation of both genders. The p-value of 0.2664 suggests that there is no significant association between gender and country. The findings revealed a gender disparity, with a higher number of male first authors. By addressing and rectifying these disparities, we can enhance the overall quality, diversity, and inclusivity of research in the field of ADHD and Artificial Intelligence.

Gender Distribution & Rank of Authorship in Surgical Literature

BACKGROUND

Authorship of surgical literature is important for the career advancement of surgeons, and gender disparities in authorship may hinder the representation and leadership of women within academic surgery. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the gender distribution of first, senior, and overall authorship in peer-reviewed surgical journal studies across all surgical specialties to determine if disparities exist.

METHODS

PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases were searched for studies investigating the gender distribution of authorship of surgical literature published before December 10th, 2021. Meta-analysis was performed and Cohen's Q test for heterogenous effects was used to determine whether random or fixed-effects models were appropriate.

RESULTS

Fifteen studies investigating gender distribution of authorship met inclusion, which included a total of 136,627 pooled studies. The meta-analysis demonstrated the meta-proportion of first authorship for women to be 20.6% (95% CI: 13.9, 28.2), the meta-proportion of senior authorship for women to be 11.9% (95% CI: 6.6, 18.5), and the meta-proportion of overall authorship for women to be 23% (95% CI: 16.2, 30.7). In addition, the proportion of senior authorship for women was found to be significantly lower than the proportion of overall authorship for women (11.9% versus 23.0%, P = .0106).

CONCLUSION

There is a significantly smaller proportion of women who are first, senior, and overall authors in surgical literature compared to their colleagues who are men. Sustainable and effective solutions aimed at improving the representation of women surgeons in surgical research and research leadership are necessary.

Trends in female authorship in two major psychiatry journals in India

Women authors are under-represented in academic medicine and academic publishing. We examined the representation of women in key authorship positions in psychiatric journals in India as well as time trends in female authorship across a decade. All articles originating from India and published in two leading Indian psychiatry journals during 2019-2020 were examined and compared with articles published in these journals during 2009-2010. Important outcomes examined were representations of women as first author, corresponding author, and last author, and the number of women in authorship lists. A total of 817 articles was analyzed; of these, 251 (30.7%) were published during 2009-2010 and 566 (69.3%) during 2019-2020. Women first-authored just over a quarter of the articles (n = 218, 26.7%). Nearly half of the articles (n = 389, 47.6%) had no woman author. Representation of women in key authorship positions and in total authorship increased significantly across time. Notably, the proportion of women first authors significantly increased for original papers (24.5% in 2009-2010 vs 38.1% in 2019-2020, p = 0.011). Gender gap in academic psychiatry publishing in India has narrowed during the past decade but is still evident. There is a need to identify and address factors that could narrow the gender gap.

An Analysis of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Program Directors in the United States

Purpose

This study aims to examine the demographic features, academic backgrounds, and scholarly achievements of ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery (OPRS) fellowship program directors (PDs) in the United States.

Methods

In this cross-sectional analysis, publicly accessible sources were accessed in March 2022 to collate the demographic and academic profiles of PDs of American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS)-accredited OPRS fellowships. Differences by gender and program rank were assessed using the Mann-Whitney Utest.

Results

Fifty-four PDs were identified, the majority of whom were males (88.89% (n = 48)). The average age was 58.48 years. Of the PDs, 96.3% (n = 53) obtained a medical degree, and all completed residency training in the United States. In addition, 9.26% (n = 5) had another degree, either a Doctor of Philosophy (n = 3) or master’s degree (n = 2). A substantial proportion of individuals completed medical school (20.37% (n = 11)), residency (20.37% (n = 11)), or fellowship (31.48% (n = 17)) at an institution affiliated with the program where they were PDs. The most common additional fellowship obtained was neuro-ophthalmology (16.67% (n = 9)). The average h-index was 19.30 (range, 0-60), average five-year h-index was 4.85 (range, 0-36), and average m-quotient was 0.63 (range, 0-2.22). A significant difference in the median five-year h-index was observed between females and males (7 (range, 3-36) versus 4 (range, 0-10); p= 0.038).

Conclusions

This analysis indicated that OPRS PDs in the United States were principally males with extensive scholarly productivity. As women remain underrepresented in OPRS, increased gender parity at this leadership position should be encouraged in order to expand the recruitment of women into the field.