Women’s role in neurosurgical research: is the gender gap improving?

Abstract

OBJECTIVEThe percentage of women publishing high-impact neurosurgical research might be perceived as a representation of our specialty and may influence the perpetuation of the existing gender gap. This study investigated whether the trend in women taking lead roles in neurosurgical research has mirrored the increase in female neurosurgeons during the past decade and whether our most prestigious publications portray enough female role models to stimulate gender diversity among the new generation of neurosurgeons.METHODSTwo of the most prominent neurosurgical journals—Journal of Neurosurgery and Neurosurgery—were selected for this study, and every original article that was published in 2009 and 2019 in each of those journals was investigated according to the gender of the first and senior authors, their academic titles, their affiliations, and their institutions’ region.RESULTSA total of 1328 articles were analyzed. The percentage of female authors was significantly higher in Europe and Russia compared with the US and Canada (first authors: 60/302 [19.9%] vs 109/829 [13.1%], p = 0.005; and senior authors: 32/302 [10.6%] vs 57/829 [6.9%], p = 0.040). Significantly increased female authorship was observed from 2009 to 2019, and overall numbers of both first and senior female authors almost doubled. However, when analyzing by regions, female authorship increased significantly only in the US and Canada. Female authors of neurosurgical research articles were significantly less likely to hold an MD degree compared with men. Female neurosurgeons serving as senior authors were represented in only 3.6% (48/1328) of articles. Women serving as senior authors were more likely to have a female colleague listed as the first author of their research (29/97 [29.9%] vs 155/1231 [12.6%]; χ2 = 22.561, p = 0.001).CONCLUSIONSAlthough this work showed an encouraging increase in the number of women publishing high-impact neurosurgical research, the stagnant trend in Europe may suggest that a glass ceiling has been reached and further advances in equity would require more aggressive measures. The differences in the researchers’ profiles (academic title and affiliation) suggest an even wider gender gap. Cultural unconscious bias may explain why female senior authors have more than double the number of women serving as their junior authors compared with men. While changes in the workforce happen, strategies such as publishing specific issues on women, encouraging female editorials, and working toward more gender-balanced editorial boards may help our journals to portray a more equitable specialty that would not discourage bright female candidates.

Representation of female neurosurgeons as abstract authors at neurological surgery conferences

“…increase in the number of female authors. [5][6][7] As illustrated here, this underrepresentation extends to accepted abstracts at conferences, as we found that female neurosurgeons composed the minority of abstract authors overall across all societies and years analyzed. Furthermore, despite an increase in the number of women pursuing neurosurgical training, there has not been a corresponding increase in the representation of female neurosurgeons as abstract authors.…”

“…Women remain significantly underrepresented as authors in neurosurgical and spine journals despite an increase of women in these fields over the past few decades. [5][6][7][8] Underrepresentation is also evident in other specialties. For example, in the field of orthopedics, a specialty with a large gender gap, Sharkey et al found that female members of the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America (POSNA) had significantly fewer accepted abstracts and, therefore, lower academic participation in POSNA annual meetings compared with their male peers, and relative to their proportional representation in membership.…”

Women In Neurosurgery: A Critical Assessment of The State of The Specialty in Turkey

“…[7] Especially with the increased awareness in recent years, initiatives such as the Women's Association of Neurosurgery mentoring program will provide a signi cant contribution to the advancement of young women neurosurgeons in their academic careers. [10] The number of female neurosurgeons continues to increase each year in Turkey, as well as worldwide.…”

Gender Distribution & Rank of Authorship in Surgical Literature

“…A total of 15 studies met our eligibility criteria and were included in the meta-analysis (eTable 1). 1,12,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Three studies investigated orthopedic surgery research, 15,21,23 three studies investigated neurosurgery research, 17,22,24 two studies investigated plastic surgery research, 18,26 and two studies investigated research from multiple surgical specialties. 16,20 The remaining five studies investigated research from surgical subspecialties and are reported in eTable 1.…”

“…The risk of bias of all studies included in this review was rated low according to the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Analytical Cross-Sectional Studies (eTable 4). 1,12,[15][16][17][18][19][20][22][23][24][25][26][27]…”