Does double-blind peer review impact gender authorship trends? An evaluation of two leading neurosurgical journals from 2010 to 2019

Mahajan, Uma V; Wadhwa, Harsh; Fatemi, Parastou; Xu, Samantha; Shan, Judy; Benzil, Deborah L.; Zygourakis, Corinna C.

doi:10.3171/2020.6.jns20902

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Possible causes for this include bias specific to individual journals such as gender bias in manuscript submission and/or review. The latter can be addressed with double-blinded reviews, which are associated with increased women authorship without sacrifice of quality (31)(32)(33)(34).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Gap in Neurology Research Authorship (1946–2020)

Nguyen

Yoffe

et al. 2021

Front. Neurol.

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Gender disparity in the field of neurology impedes scientific advancements and innovations. In 2018, 45.0% of neurology and neurological subspecialty residents were women. Despite a notable rise in the proportion of women neurologists over the past decades, inequalities regarding publication proportions between men and women persist in the field. This cohort study examines authorship trends in articles published in 155 international neurology journals, identified as those listed in the annual Journal Citation Reports' “Clinical Neurology” section. Authors' names, authorship positions and countries of affiliation were extracted from PubMed for indexed articles published from 1946 to 2020. Gender-API (a validated and highly accurate application program interface) assigned binary genders to authors. Author gender proportions were compared across subspecialties, authorship position and years. In 303,385 unique articles, 1,663,036 total authors were identified of which 34.1% were women. Neuroradiology demonstrated the lowest proportion of women authors (21.3%), while neurogenetics displayed the highest (44.5%). In articles with multiple authors, both men and women last authors were more likely to publish with a male first author, though this was significantly more pronounced for men last authors (1.86 vs. 1.08; p < 0.001). From 2002 to 2020, women remained in the minority of last (24.6%), first (36.2%), and middle author positions (35.8%). The authorship gender distribution in neurological journals neither reflects the gender proportion of neurologists in the field overall nor in any subspecialty examined. We also find a tendency for senior and junior authors of the same gender to publish together which perpetuates authorship inequity. Further work is needed to identify underlying causes so that interventions might be developed to improve authorship diversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Gap in Neurology Research Authorship (1946–2020)

Nguyen

Yoffe

et al. 2021

Front. Neurol.

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“…17 Over this same period of time, the percentage of ABNS-certified female neurosurgeons has remained relatively static, ranging from 6.3% to 6.8%. 18 There is now extensive assessment of the role of society leadership as it pertains to female practitioners within medicine and other specialties, describing microinequities that lead to the invisibility and marginalization of women. 8,9 In order for academic medicine to recruit and retain women within its ranks, midcareer physicians need opportunities such as speaking invitations at national conferences and academic grand rounds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19,20 A gender gap in authorship of papers has also been identified as another challenge to visibility. 18 Recently, a comprehensive multipronged corrective approach to the gender discrepancy within our field was outlined: these recommendations included routine and consistent tracking of gender metrics, commitment to increased female representation at all academic ranks, pledge to inclusion at the podium, and increased societal leadership representation. 4 The year 2020 has been tumultuous, and as a result the world has seen the consequence of systemic conformity and exclusion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slow progress in the visibility of women in neurosurgery in the United States: opportunity for improvement

Ganju

Mahajan

Kemeny

et al. 2021

Neurosurgical Focus

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OBJECTIVEThe goal of this study was to analyze the visibility of women within organized neurosurgery, including leadership positions, lectureships, and honored guest/award recipients at neurosurgical conferences.METHODSA cross-sectional study was used to analyze the gender demographics within the five major national neurosurgical societies (Congress of Neurological Surgeons [CNS], American Association of Neurological Surgeons [AANS], Society of Neurological Surgeons [SNS], American Board of Neurological Surgery [ABNS], and Council of State Neurosurgical Societies [CSNS]) from 2000 to 2020. Data for top leadership positions, keynote speakers, honored guests, and invited lectureships at these neurosurgical societies were reviewed. Additionally, national neurosurgical residency match data from 2018 to 2020 were collected. For each aforementioned data point, gender was determined and confirmed via publicly available data. Data from the US News and World Report best hospitals publication for 2020 were applied for analyzing gender trends within neurosurgical residencies specifically.RESULTSIn the past 2 decades (2000–2020), top leadership positions across the neurosurgical organizations were held by 45 individuals, of whom 5 (11.1%) were women. Spanning from 2000 to 2018, just 8.1% (50 of 618) of guests/honored speakers on the national neurosurgical stage of the CNS, AANS, SNS, and CSNS meetings have been female. Excluding the Louise Eisenhardt Lecture (honoring women), the percentage of female guests/honored speakers at the AANS meeting was just 5% (17 of 367). For the CNS annual meetings, 13.4% (20 of 149) of the speakers were women from 2000 to 2018, whereas the CSNS annual meeting data from 2001 to 2018 found that 11.9% (7 of 59) of speakers were women. From 1952 to the present, there have been no female honored guests at the CNS annual meeting. Across the residency match cycles from 2018 to 2020, the percentages of matched applicants identifying as female have been 22.7%, 28.1%, and, most recently, 25.3%. The percentage of female residents is 28.5% (top 20 program) versus 24.3% (non–top 20 program) (p = 0.267).CONCLUSIONSThis study found that for all the data points surveyed, including leadership positions, invited lectureships at national neurosurgical meetings, and successful neurosurgical residency applicants, disproportionate female underrepresentation was evident. Consistent lack of visibility leads to a negative impact on progress in the recruitment and retention of women in neurosurgery. Visibility, mentorship, role models, and sponsorship are highly interrelated processes and are essential for meaningful progress.

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“…However, this remains lower than the percentage of female board-certified neurosurgeons (6%) and much lower than the rate of women currently entering neurosurgery residency (23.6% in 2018). 21 This suggests that there is still considerable work to be done-specifically in spine surgery-in terms of training and mentoring future female spine surgeons.…”

Section: Academic Career Predictors In Spine Neurosurgerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of an academic career among fellowship-trained spinal neurosurgeons

Khalafallah

Jimenez

Shlobin

et al. 2021

Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine

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OBJECTIVE Although fellowship training is becoming increasingly common in neurosurgery, it is unclear which factors predict an academic career trajectory among spinal neurosurgeons. In this study, the authors sought to identify predictors associated with academic career placement among fellowship-trained neurological spinal surgeons. METHODS Demographic data and bibliometric information on neurosurgeons who completed a residency program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education between 1983 and 2019 were gathered, and those who completed a spine fellowship were identified. Employment was denoted as academic if the hospital where a neurosurgeon worked was affiliated with a neurosurgical residency program; all other positions were denoted as nonacademic. A logistic regression model was used for multivariate statistical analysis. RESULTS A total of 376 fellowship-trained spinal neurosurgeons were identified, of whom 140 (37.2%) held academic positions. The top 5 programs that graduated the most fellows in the cohort were Cleveland Clinic, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of Miami, Barrow Neurological Institute, and Northwestern University. On multivariate analysis, increased protected research time during residency (OR 1.03, p = 0.044), a higher h-index during residency (OR 1.12, p < 0.001), completing more than one clinical fellowship (OR 2.16, p = 0.024), and attending any of the top 5 programs that graduated the most fellows (OR 2.01, p = 0.0069) were independently associated with an academic career trajectory. CONCLUSIONS Increased protected research time during residency, a higher h-index during residency, completing more than one clinical fellowship, and attending one of the 5 programs graduating the most fellowship-trained neurosurgical spinal surgeons independently predicted an academic career. These results may be useful in identifying and advising trainees interested in academic spine neurosurgery.

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Does double-blind peer review impact gender authorship trends? An evaluation of two leading neurosurgical journals from 2010 to 2019

Cited by 14 publications

References 37 publications

Gender Gap in Neurology Research Authorship (1946–2020)

Gender Gap in Neurology Research Authorship (1946–2020)

Slow progress in the visibility of women in neurosurgery in the United States: opportunity for improvement

Predictors of an academic career among fellowship-trained spinal neurosurgeons

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