Trends in Female Authorship in High Impact Surgical Journals Between 2008 and 2018

Representation of Women Authorship in the Top 5 Transplantation Journals in the United States

BACKGROUND

In the United States, only 13% of transplant surgeons are women. We evaluated gender distribution and trends of American authorship over the past 10 y in high-impact solid organ transplantation journals to gain insight into the current status of women authorship in transplantation.

METHODS

Original articles from 2012 to 2021 from the 5 highest-impact solid organ transplantation journals were extracted from Scopus. First and last author's gender was predicted using Genderize.io. Data of first and last authors, article type and topic, location, citation, and funding metrics were analyzed. Chi-square, logistic regression, and trend tests were performed where appropriate. Statistical significance was set at <0.05.

RESULTS

Women's first and last authorship increased over time among all journals. There was an increase in women first authors in the American Journal of Transplantation and in senior women authors in Liver Transplantation and Transplantation . Significant differences in gender authorship in lung, intestine, pancreas, general, and islet cell transplantation were found. Women's last authorship was associated with 1.69 higher odds of having a woman first author when adjusting for year and journal. There was an increase in the rate of women's first and last author collaborations over the years. Women last authors had 1.5 higher odds of being funded by the National Institutes of Health over the years.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite an increase in women transplant surgeons and physicians, the gap in women authorship in transplantation persists. Women's last authorship was associated with higher odds of having a woman first author, pointing to the importance of mentorship for women joining the transplant academia.

Gender Representation in Academic Publications of Tourette Syndrome Research: An Analysis of Authorship Trends

Tourette syndrome, characterized by phonic and motor tics, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that significantly affects the quality of life of people with the condition. With over 1500 articles published in the last decade alone, this study aims to analyze the gender trends in publications related to Tourette syndrome from 2013 to 2022, examining the number of female authors as first authors and predicting future changes in female participation. The aim of this study is to analyze the gender trends of the first author in publications related to "Tourette Syndrome" from PubMed-indexed publications from January 2013 to December 2022. A bibliometric analysis was conducted by the search engine PubMed for articles pertaining to "Tourette Syndrome". NamSor app V.2 (Namsor™ Applied Onomastics, NamSor SAS, Versailles, France), an application programming interface (API), was used to identify the gender of the first publishing author. Statistical analysis and graphic models were produced using R software (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria), ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) model, and DataWrapper (Datawrapper GmbH, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg, Germany). Based on the analysis of 1052 publications on Tourette Syndrome, it was found that 54.8% (n=576) of the first authors were females. A significant association was observed between gender ratios and country of publication. Statistical forecasting models suggest that female participation in Tourette research is expected to rise to approximately 60 by the year 2027. Therefore, the study highlights the progress made in achieving gender parity in Tourette syndrome research, with female-led publications being on par with male-led publications. However, there is still a need to address the global gender gap and geographical disparities in research to work towards a more inclusive and diverse academic environment.

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.

Female authorship trends in the field of colorectal surgery: A retrospective bibliometric study

Background

Gender disparity and hidden discrimination remained in the surgical subspecialties. This study aimed to explore the authorship gender composition in four high-impact colorectal surgery journals over the past two decades.

Method

This cross-sectional study queried the Web of Science Core Collection database and PubMed (MEDLINE) for articles published in four high-impact colorectal surgery specialty journals between 2000 and 2021 (Database accessed at July 2022). Extracted data included authors' full names, institutions, year of publication and total citation numbers. Authors' genders were assigned via gendrize.io, a third-party name predictor tool.

Results

100,325 authorship records were included in the final analysis. 21.8% of writers were identified as female, an increase from 11.4% (95% CI, 9.4%-13.3%) in 2000 to 26.5% (95% CI, 25.6%-27.4%) in 2021. Female authorship has risen in all authorship types, but women physicians were less likely to be the last authors than the first (OR, 0.63; 95%CI, 0.6-0.67) or middle authors (OR, 0.57; 95%CI, 0.55-0.60). Female authorship has also increased substantially in different document types, but female authorships were less likely in editorials than original articles (OR, 0.76; 95%CI, 0.7-0.83) and reviews (OR, 0.83; 95%CI, 0.74-0.94). Compared with male physicians, females were more likely to author in publications with reportable funding, either as first authors (OR, 1.46; 95%CI, 1.12-1.78) or last authors (OR, 1.51; 95%CI, 1.22-1.89). Authorship varied geographically, and countries with the highest female authorship percentage were mainly in Europe and North America.

Conclusion

Female authorship has grown substantially in colorectal surgery literature. However, female physicians were still underrepresented and less likely to assume senior or leading authorship roles.

Contributions of Women to Cardiovascular Science Over Two Decades: Authorship, Leadership, and Mentorship

Background Women remain underrepresented in cardiology. We aimed to assess gender trends in research authorship, authorship in leading roles, mentorship, and research team diversity. Methods and Results We identified "cardiac and cardiovascular systems" journals from 2002 to 2020 using Journal Citation Reports 2019 (Web of Science, Clarivate Analytics). Gender authorship, mentorship, research team diversity, and trends were assessed. Associations between author gender and impact factor, journal region, and cardiology subspecialties were analyzed. Analysis of 396 549 research papers from 122 journals showed the percentage of women authors increased from 16.6% to 24.6% (β=0.38 [95% CI, 0.29-0.46]; P<0.001), whereas the proportion of women first (β=-0.03 [95% CI, -0.06 to 0.004]; P=0.09) or last authors (β=-0.017 [95% CI, -0.04 to 0.006]; P=0.15) was unchanged. Compared with men last authors, women last authors were more likely to mentor women first authors and lead more diverse research teams (both P<0.001). Journal impact factor was related to percentage of women authors overall (Spearman's correlation coefficient R_S=0.208 [95% CI, 0.02-0.38]; P=0.03) but not first or last women authors (both P>0.5). Women comprised 18.4%-25.7% of authors in cardiology subspecialties. Journal region and author gender were unrelated (all P>0.4). Conclusions Women's inclusion as authors of cardiology papers increased slightly over the past 2 decades, yet the proportions of women in first and last authorship roles were unchanged. Women are increasingly likely to mentor women first authors and lead diverse research teams. Women last authors are essential to increasing diversity of future independent investigators and inclusive research teams, both of which are associated with innovation and excellence in science.

Female author representation differs between journals from the United States of America, Europe, and Asia: a 10-year comparison of five medical disciplines

To provide information for targeted support of female scientists, the objective of this study was to evaluate how female authors are represented in journals of five medical disciplines with varying rates of female physicians from the United States of America (USA), Europe, and Asia. For this retrospective bibliometric study 15 representative gynecologic, pediatric, radiologic, urologic, and surgical journals from the USA, Europe, and Asia were selected from the Web of Science database. From these, all n = 24182 publications of the years 2007/2008 and 2017/2018 were included. Gender and affiliations were assigned to first and senior authors using a software (Gender API, Passau, Germany), native speakers, and a web-based search. For statistics mixed logistic and multinomial logistic regression were applied. In pediatrics, radiology, and urology, highest female first and senior author shares were consistently found in journals from the USA. In European journals proportions across all disciplines tripled (odds ratio 2.96 [95% CI 2.60–3.37], P < .0001). Asian journals showed three-times fewer female authorships than journals from the USA or Europe and the smallest increase (1.36 [1.11–1.66], P = .0026). Compared to the proportion of female physicians within each specialty, female first authors remained underrepresented in Asian journals and female senior authors in journals of all regions. In journals from the USA most female authors originated from institutes within the USA (36.2%), in European journals from the USA (21.1%) or Europe (21.7%). Women from Asian institutes were worst represented in journals of all regions with lowest rates in Asian journals (9.4%). In conclusion female first authors remained underrepresented in Asian journals, female senior authors and women from Asian institutes in journals from all regions. Programs for gender equality in science are thus particularly necessary to support female senior authors, for Asian journals, and women from Asian institutes.

Vascular Surgery Research in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Sex-Based Bibliometric Analysis

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted vascular surgery services globally and its impact on researchers has illustrated disproportionate barriers for female researchers. We assessed the pandemic's consequences on bibliometric trends in vascular surgery and vascular medicine throughout the pandemic.

METHODS

A scoping review was performed using the PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and EMBASE databases from January to December 2020 to identify articles related to COVID-19 and vascular surgery or vascular medicine. Articles only describing cardiac or neurovascular care were excluded. The scoping review was performed according to the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Bibliometric data were extracted and analyzed.

RESULTS

Four hundred and fourteen articles were identified, including 125 (30.2%) original articles, 42 (10.1%) review papers, 105 (25.4%) case reports, 27 (6.5%) editorials and commentaries, 94 (22.7%) letters and correspondences, and 21 (5.1%) conference abstracts. The 5 most common countries of study or discussion were all high-income countries. English was the predominant (n = 393, 94.9%) language. Funding was reported for 5.1% (n = 21) of articles. In the first 6 months, 17.6% (n = 30) of first authors and 10.6% (n = 18) of last authors were female, while the last 6 months saw an increase in representation to 30.6% (n = 74) and 15.6% (n = 38) for first and last author, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The pandemic caused a rapid surge in vascular publications related to COVID-19. Female authors remain underrepresented in vascular research and the share in female authorship has dropped early in the pandemic, but rose after the end of the first wave. High-income countries remain overrepresented in research productivity, alluding to important disparities in COVID-19-related literature.

Gender Distribution of First and Senior Authorship Across Most Cited Studies Within the Top Ten Surgical Journals From 2015-2020: Cementing Women Academic Surgery Representation

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study is to investigate the gender distribution of first and senior authors in the most highly cited original research studies published in the top 10 surgical journals from 2015 to 2020 to identify disparities and changes over time.

METHODS

A retrospective study analyzing the gender distribution of first and senior authors in the top 10 most cited studies from the top 10 surgical journals from 2015 to 2020. The genders of the first and senior authors of each study were assessed using National Provider Identifier (NPI) numbers or pronouns from institutional biographies or news articles.

RESULTS

The genders of 1200 first and senior authors from 600 original research studies were assessed. First author gender distribution consisted of 71.8% men, 22.3% women, 0% non-binary, and 5.8% unknown. Senior author gender distribution was 82.3% men, 14.3% women, 0% non-binary, and 3.3% unknown. Studies published by first authors who are women received more citations than those published by first authors that are men in 2015 (169.1 versus 112.9, P = 0.002) and 2016 (144.2 versus 101.5, P = 0.011). There was an increase in first authorship among men from 2015 to 2020 (P = 0.035).

CONCLUSIONS

Men represent a significantly higher proportion of both first and senior authorships in top surgical research and the gap has widened from 2015 to 2020. However, studies written by women first authors received significantly more citations than those written by men.

Gender Disparity in the Citation of Surgical Research

BACKGROUND

Women surgeons face numerous barriers to career advancement. Inequitable citation of surgical literature may represent a contributing factor to gender disparities in academic surgery.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional analysis of publications from 50 top-ranking surgery journals in 2017 and 2018, as defined by the 2019 InCites Journal Citation Reports. The citation rate of publications by women vs men first authors was compared. Similarly, the citation rate of publications by men vs women last authors was also compared. Adjusted regression analyses of citation rates accounted for the time interval since publication as well as the journal within which the article was published, among other potential confounding factors.

RESULTS

A total of 19,084 publications from 48 surgery journals with a median (interquartile range) of 8 (4 to 15) citations contributing to a median (interquartile range) Journal Impact Factor of 4.0 (3.4 to 4.6) were analyzed. Compared with man-first author publications, woman-first author publications demonstrated a 9% lower citation rate (incidence rate ratio 0.91, p < 0.001). Similarly, compared with publications by man-last authors, woman-last author publications demonstrated a 4% lower citation rate (incidence rate ratio 0.96, p = 0.03). These associations persisted after multivariable adjustment for additional confounding factors, however, not on sensitivity analysis of 24 of the highest-ranking journals.

CONCLUSIONS

Among top-tier surgical journals, publications by women-first and -last authors were less cited compared with publications by men-first and -last authors, but not among the highest-tier surgical journals. Gender bias may exist in the citation of surgical research, contributing to gender disparities in academic surgery.

Is authorship by women in Brazilian academic surgery increasing? A five-year retrospective analysis

Women remain underrepresented in 80% of Brazilian surgical specialties, however, women representation within the Brazilian academic surgical literature remains unknown. This study aims to evaluate the gender distribution of first and last authors in Brazilian surgical journals. All publications between 2015 and 2019 from the five Brazilian surgical journals with the highest impact factor were reviewed. The first and last authors' names were extracted from each article and a predictive algorithm was used to classify the gender of each author. Authors were further classified by surgical field and geographic region to investigate patterns of female authorship among journals, specialties, and region over the study period. Multivariable logistic regression was then used to identify factors independently associated with female authorship. 1844 articles were analyzed; 23% (426/1844) articles had female first authors, and 20% (348/1748) had female last authors. Acta Cirúrgica Brasileira was observed to have the highest rates for both first and last female authors (37%, 138/371; 26%, 95/370)) and Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia (9%, 48/542; 10%, 54/522) had the lowest rates. Papers with a woman senior author were twice as likely to have a woman first author (OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.51-2.58, p≤0.01). Women's representation in medicine is increasing in Brazil, yet women remain underrepresented as the first and last authors in the Brazilian surgical literature. Our results highlight the importance of senior women mentorship in academic surgery and demonstrate that promoting female surgeon senior authorship through academic and financial support will positively impact the number of female first authors.

The sticky surgical floor: An analysis of female authorship trends in vascular surgery

OBJECTIVE

Prior research in vascular surgery has identified significant gender disparities in leadership positions, but few data exist regarding gender disparities in vascular publications. This study aims to evaluate authorship trends by gender in the three highest impact factor vascular surgery journals.

METHODS

In this bibliometric analysis, PubMed was searched for articles published in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, the Journal of Vascular Surgery, and Annals of Vascular Surgery from 2015 to 2019. The web-based application Genderize used predictive algorithms to classify names of first and last authors as male or female. Statistical analyses regarding trends in authorship were performed using Stata16.

RESULTS

A total of 6457 articles were analyzed, with first author gender predicted with >90% confidence in 83% (4889/5796) and last author gender in 88% (5078/5796). Overall, 25% (1223/4889) of articles had women first authors, and 10% (501/5078) had women last authors. From 2015 to 2019, there was a slight increase in the proportion of articles written by women first authors (P = .001), but no increase in the proportion of articles written by women last authors (P = .204). The proportion of articles written by women last authors was lower than the proportion of active women vascular surgeons in 2015 (8% of articles vs 11% of surgeons; P = .015), 2017 (9% of articles vs 13% of surgeons; P < .001), and 2019 (11% of articles vs 15% of practicing surgeons; P < .001). The average number of last-author publications was higher for men (2.35 ± 3.76) than for women (1.62 ± 1.88, P = .001). The proportion of unique authors who were women was less than the proportion of active women vascular surgeons in 2017 (10% unique authors vs 13% surgeons; P = .047), but not in 2015 (9% unique authors vs 11% surgeons; P = .192) or 2019 (13% unique authors vs 15% surgeons; P = .345). Notably, a woman last author was associated with 1.45 higher odds of having a woman first author (95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.79; P = .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Over the past 5 years, there has been no significant increase in women last authors among top-tier journals in vascular surgery. Women remain under-represented as last authors in terms of proportion of published articles, but not in terms of proportion of unique authors. Nevertheless, women last authors are more likely to publish with women first authors, indicating the importance of women-led mentorship in achieving publication gender equity. Support for women surgeons through grants and promotions is essential not only for advancing last authorship gender equity, but for advancing junior faculty and trainee academic careers.

Attainment of an Additional Graduate Degree Is Associated With Sustained Scholarly Activity Beyond Surgical Residency

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether attainment of an additional graduate-level degree during general surgery residency, such as an MSc, MPH, MBA, or PhD, is associated with increased research productivity beyond completion of training.

DESIGN

Observational cohort study comparing publication productivity of general surgery residency graduates who did and did not obtain a degree. PubMed queries and the Web of Science Core Collection were used to capture publication metrics. Graduate characteristics, including degree attainment, were obtained from an institutional database. Practice webpages were reviewed to designate an academic surgical practice, defined as an assistant, associate, or full professorship appointment.

SETTING

Single academic general surgery residency program.

PARTICIPANTS

Categorical general surgery residency graduates who performed at least 1 year of dedicated research.

RESULTS

1768 total publications, representing 1500 unique publications, were authored by 54 residents, of which 18 (33.3%) residents attained an additional graduate-level degree during dedicated research. 1369 (91.3%) publications had identifiable Journal Impact Factors and citation data. Degree attainers were more likely to be female (55.6% vs. 25.0%, p = 0.03) and spend more time in dedicated research (mean 2.2 vs. 1.8 years, p = 0.02). Overall, degree attainers published more frequently during residency (median 4.4 vs. 2.1 publications/year, p < 0.001) and fellowship (median 2.0 vs. 1.0 publications/year, p = 0.046). Analysis of the first 4 post-training years demonstrated degree attainers produced 1.2 more publications per year among all graduates (2.3 vs. 1.1 publications/year, p = 0.02) and 1.6 more publications per year among graduates practicing academic surgery (3.3 vs. 1.7 publications/year, p = 0.02). There were no differences in the Journal Impact Factor or publication citations per year among degree and nondegree attaining graduates.

CONCLUSIONS

Attainment of an additional graduate-level degree was associated with increased research productivity that was sustained beyond surgical residency. Programs with the goal of training academic surgeons should support professional degrees during dedicated research years.

Bibliometric Analysis of the English Musculoskeletal Literature over the Last 30 Years

Publication and authorship are important in academia for career advancement, obtaining grants, and improved patient care. There has been a recent interest in bibliometric changes over time, especially regarding the gender gap. The purpose of this study was to explore bibliometric changes in the musculoskeletal literature. Bibliometric variables (number of authors, institutions, countries, pages, references, corresponding author position, author gender, geographic region of origin, and editorial board makeup) were analyzed for 5 basic science and 12 clinically oriented musculoskeletal journals from 1985 through 2016. Statistical analyses comprised bivariate analyses, multifactorial ANOVAs, and logistic regression analyses. A p < 0.005 was considered significant. Nearly, all variables increased over time. Asia had the highest number of authors and corresponding author positions, Australia/New Zealand the highest number of institutions and references, North America the highest number of pages, and Europe the highest number of countries. Those with a female first author had more authors, institutions, countries, references, and pages. Likewise, those with a female corresponding author had more authors, institutions, countries, references, and pages. Single-authored manuscripts decreased over time. The percentage of female first authors rose from 10.8% in 1985-1987 to 23.7% in 2015-2016. There were more female 1^st authors in the basic science journals compared to the clinical journals (33.2% vs. 12.7%). Single-authored manuscripts were more likely to be written by males (5.1 vs. 2.4%) and decreased over time. The many differences by geographic region of origin likely reflect different socio/cultural attitudes regarding academia and research, as well as the gender composition of the disciplines by geographic region. Overall, there has been an increase in the number of female 1^st and corresponding authors, editorial board members, and chief editors, indicating a slow but progressive narrowing of the gender gap.