The gender authorship gap in gynecologic oncology research

Abstract

Female first authorship and senior authorship in academic obstetrics and gynecology has increased over time but gender-specific publishing data are lacking within gynecologic oncology. We examined contribution by gender to the subspecialty's flagship journal, Gynecologic Oncology, over five decades, from 1972 to 2014, to identify trends in gender representation. Chi-square tests were used to compare gender distributions within and between the first and last years studied (1972–73 and 2014) as well as linear regression to model trends over time. Female first and senior authorship increased significantly from 1972 to 2014 (first: χ2 = 20.9, p < .01; senior: χ2 = 9.9, p < .01). The number of female first authors increased markedly after 2000. Male senior authors still outnumber female senior authors. Papers with senior female authors were more likely to have female first authors, suggesting a mentorship role. Subspecialty-wide gender equity initiatives should encourage continued mentorship of women by female colleagues.

Gender Concordance of First and Senior Authors in Family Medicine Journals

“…These differences have ranged from women being underrepresented in leadership roles to women being less likely to compose or publish manuscripts. [9][10][11][12][13] In family medicine, female authorship in three major family medicine journals has increased in the last decade, but there is still a gender gap in senior authorship. 14 Gender differences in scholarship are relevant to the gender gap among academic senior faculty positions.…”

“…However, others have suggested it may be a fair proxy. 5 While the last author is often the most senior and most directive throughout the publication process, that author may not be the person providing the most impactful mentorship to others in the research group (nor the person providing mentorship around issues apart from scholarly publication). More evidence is needed to determine actual physician-researcher attitudes and beliefs around mentoring, especially because academic clinical departments may have different attitudes compared with traditional biomedical departments.…”

“…In gynecology, for example, peer-reviewed scientific papers with senior female authors were more likely to have female first authors, suggesting a mentorship role. 5 This study examines first author/last author pairs in peer-reviewed articles to observe whether differential rates in mentorship exist between male and female authors in academic family medicine.…”

Gender Differences in Authorship of Family Medicine Publications, 2002-2017

“…Our findings are consistent with other studies, both within family medicine and other specialties. 6,7,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]8,[26][27][28][29][33][34][35][36][37][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] This raises the question of why there are not comparable increases in the percentage of women in leadership. 40 There are signs of a narrowing gap between the genders within academic family medicine: this study shows better representation in senior authorship, which echoes the AAMC data on academic rank (Figure 1).…”

The Society of Hospital Medicine's Commitment to Increasing Academic Representation for Women and Underrepresented Groups in Medicine: A Good Start

“…Documentation of gender‐based disparities in medicine often focus on lower numbers of women in prominent positions as evidence of inequality and inequity; examples include lower proportion of women physicians as conference speakers, 1 first and last authors of manuscripts, 2 invited editorials, 3 award recipients, 4 grant recipients, 5 medical society leadership, 6 editorial boards, 7 and presenters at grand rounds 8 . Notably, these disparities are likely greater for intersectional physicians, who experience bias through multiple lenses of disadvantage 9 .…”