Elsevier

The Journal of Pediatrics

Volume 191, December 2017, Pages 244-249.e1
The Journal of Pediatrics

Original Articles
Gender Differences in the Authorship of Original Research in Pediatric Journals, 2001-2016

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.08.044Get rights and content

Objectives

To examine the gender of authors of original research in 3 high-impact pediatric journals between 2001 and 2016, given the importance of publishing on academic promotion, and to compare authorship gender with the percentage of women on editorial boards and with academic faculty composition.

Study design

We assessed the prevalence of female first and senior (last-listed) authorship of original research articles published in 3 pediatric-focused journals Pediatrics, JAMA Pediatrics (entitled Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine until 2013), and The Journal of Pediatrics. We also examined the gender breakdown of the main editors and the broader editorial boards of these journals. In addition, we examined whether junior female faculty co-authored with male or female senior faculty.

Results

Of 3895 original articles, 22 were excluded because the gender of either the first or senior author could not be determined from the name. An analysis of authorship by year showed increasing female representation across the selected journals in both first (39.8% in 2001, 57.7% in 2016) and senior (28.6% in 2001, 38.1% in 2016) authors, respectively. Editorial boards also showed increasing female representation (17.8% in 2001 to 39.8% in 2016). Junior female faculty were more likely to co-author with senior female women (female first and last author); the gap remained unchanged despite the increasing number of women entering pediatrics.

Conclusions

Women are underrepresented as authors and editors, although the gap is closing. Junior women are less likely to co-author with senior men, which may be a disservice given current gender disparities in promotion and leadership.

Section snippets

Methods

We assessed the prevalence of female first authorship and senior (last-listed) authorship of original research articles published in 3 high-impact general pediatric-focused journals Pediatrics, JAMA Pediatrics (entitled Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine until 2013), and The Journal of Pediatrics as well as the gender congruence between first and senior authors. We also examined the gender breakdown of their main editors and their broader editorial board.

All original articles

Results

Data on a total of 3895 original articles were collected. Of these articles, 22 (0.6%) were excluded because of an inability to determine the gender of the first or senior author. There were 173 (4.5%) articles with a single author, coded as first author. The Table shows the percentages of female first and senior authors of original research articles, overall, by journal, and by time of publication. Overall, 49.9% (1935/3873) of the first authors and 34.5% (1278/3700) of the senior authors were

Discussion

Our findings of increasing female authorship in the field of pediatrics is in line with previously reported trends from Jagsi et al who examined articles from The Journal of Pediatrics and articles from other specialty journals.1, 10, 11, 12 These data may reflect, in part, the increase in female physicians in academic medicine overall since 2000,2, 3, 6 and more specifically, the increase in female pediatricians in academic pediatrics. And yet, although US female researchers accounted for

References (26)

  • A.P. Mayer et al.

    Academic advancement of women in medicine: do socialized gender differences have a role in mentoring?

    Mayo Clin Proc

    (2008)
  • R. Jagsi et al.

    The “gender gap” in authorship of academic medical literature – a 35-year perspective

    N Engl J Med

    (2006)
  • American Medical Association

    Physician characteristics and distribution in the U.S

    (2015)
  • Association of American Medical Colleges

    Women in U.S. academic medicine: statistics and medical school benchmarking 2013-2014

    (2014)
  • J. Bickel

    Women in medical educations: a status report

    N Engl J Med

    (1989)
  • L. Nonnemaker

    Women physicians in academic medicine: new insights from cohort studies

    N Engl J Med

    (2000)
  • Association of American Medical Colleges

    FAMOUS: Faculty Administrative Management Online User System, U.S. Medical School Faculty 2016

    (2014)
  • C. DeAngelis

    Women in pediatrics

    JAMA Pediatr

    (2015)
  • J. Berg

    Funding: gender grant disparity

    Nature

    (2016)
  • RAND Corporation

    Is there gender bias in federal grant programs?

    RAND Res Brief

    (2005)
  • G. Filardo et al.

    Trends and comparison of female first authorship in high impact medical journals: observational study (1994-2014)

    BMJ

    (2016)
  • D. Shah et al.

    Trends in female representation in published ophthalmology literature, 2000-2009

    Digit J Ophthalmol

    (2013)
  • N. Bhattacharyya et al.

    Increased female authorship in otolaryngology over the past three decades

    Laryngoscope

    (2000)
  • Cited by (134)

    • 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

      2022, Journal of Surgical Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      While the program itself was small in scale, it demonstrated a successful design that can be adopted by other programs in the future. Additional strategies such as mentorship, pipeline programs, and increased recruitment of women have also been implemented in the past and demonstrated success in decreasing gender disparities within research.30,31 In addition to reinforcing and expanding on these ongoing programs, interventions are needed to address the significant decrease in women's authorship observed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    D.M.G serves as an Associate Editor and L.F.R. serves as an Editorial Board member for The Journal of Pediatrics. L.F.R. serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Clinical Ethics, the Journal of Empirical Research in Human Research Ethics (JERHRE), and Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

    View full text