Presenter Status
Resident/Ph.D/Post graduate (> 1 month of dedicated research time)
Abstract Type
Research
Primary Mentor
Jessica Markham, MD
Start Date
9-5-2023 12:00 PM
End Date
9-5-2023 12:15 PM
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Description
Background: Gender disparities are well described in medicine and academia. Despite a catalyzed movement towards gender equity, female physician-scientists remain at risk for experiencing biases in hiring practices, compensation, promotion, appointment to leadership positions, and achievement of extramural funding through the National Institutes of Health. In pediatrics, the female workforce has grown consistently over time, with female physicians comprising 72.3% of the workforce as of 2021, yet prior work suggests that this growth is not fully reflected in academic publications. Achieving gender parity in academic publication may help reduce gender-based disparities impacting career advancement. Therefore, we sought to describe the gender distribution of first (early-stage investigators) and senior (last or mentor) authors and gender concordance among first and last authors within Academic Pediatrics, a high-impact, general pediatrics journal focused on bolstering the educational foundation and research of academic pediatricians.
Objectives/Goal: Our objectives in this study were to: 1) assess gender distributions of first and senior authors, 2) examine gender concordance between first author and senior authors, and 3) explore changes in gender-based authorship over time within Academic Pediatrics.
Methods/Design: This retrospective cross-sectional study included all original research, educational research, perspectives/commentaries, narrative/systematic reviews, and unclassified (other) articles in Academic Pediatrics from 2015 to 2021. We examined the numbers, proportions, and types of articles authored by first and senior authors based on gender. We assessed gender concordance between first and senior authors using proportions. Changes in proportions of female first and senior authors over time were assessed using the Cochran-Armitage test. All statistical analyses were performed using SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC), and p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: We included 1,179 articles published within Academic Pediatrics; 97 articles had only one author. The top 3 article types included: original research (53.9%), education articles (19.3%), and invited content (17.1%). Overall, 808 (68.5%) articles had a female first author while 607 (56.1%) had a female senior author. Female first authors were mentored more frequently by female senior authors (59.8%) compared to male senior authors (40.2%). Nearly ¾ (74.1%) of all articles with a female senior author had a corresponding female first author. There were not statistically significant changes in the proportions of female first and senior authors over time (p=0.14 and p=0.12, respectively).
Conclusions: Compared to the female pediatric workforce, female first authors are well represented as authors of publications within Academic Pediatrics, though a gap persists among senior authors. Female senior authors play an important role in mentoring first author publications within Academic Pediatrics. Achieving gender parity in research publication may help to increase numbers and retention of female physician-scientists, enhance the pool of female physician-scientist mentors, and improve the diversity of research teams ultimately leading to increased representation of female physician-scientists in leadership positions within academia.
Included in
Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Medical Education Commons, Pediatrics Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons
Female Authorship Concordance in Academic Pediatrics
Background: Gender disparities are well described in medicine and academia. Despite a catalyzed movement towards gender equity, female physician-scientists remain at risk for experiencing biases in hiring practices, compensation, promotion, appointment to leadership positions, and achievement of extramural funding through the National Institutes of Health. In pediatrics, the female workforce has grown consistently over time, with female physicians comprising 72.3% of the workforce as of 2021, yet prior work suggests that this growth is not fully reflected in academic publications. Achieving gender parity in academic publication may help reduce gender-based disparities impacting career advancement. Therefore, we sought to describe the gender distribution of first (early-stage investigators) and senior (last or mentor) authors and gender concordance among first and last authors within Academic Pediatrics, a high-impact, general pediatrics journal focused on bolstering the educational foundation and research of academic pediatricians.
Objectives/Goal: Our objectives in this study were to: 1) assess gender distributions of first and senior authors, 2) examine gender concordance between first author and senior authors, and 3) explore changes in gender-based authorship over time within Academic Pediatrics.
Methods/Design: This retrospective cross-sectional study included all original research, educational research, perspectives/commentaries, narrative/systematic reviews, and unclassified (other) articles in Academic Pediatrics from 2015 to 2021. We examined the numbers, proportions, and types of articles authored by first and senior authors based on gender. We assessed gender concordance between first and senior authors using proportions. Changes in proportions of female first and senior authors over time were assessed using the Cochran-Armitage test. All statistical analyses were performed using SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC), and p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: We included 1,179 articles published within Academic Pediatrics; 97 articles had only one author. The top 3 article types included: original research (53.9%), education articles (19.3%), and invited content (17.1%). Overall, 808 (68.5%) articles had a female first author while 607 (56.1%) had a female senior author. Female first authors were mentored more frequently by female senior authors (59.8%) compared to male senior authors (40.2%). Nearly ¾ (74.1%) of all articles with a female senior author had a corresponding female first author. There were not statistically significant changes in the proportions of female first and senior authors over time (p=0.14 and p=0.12, respectively).
Conclusions: Compared to the female pediatric workforce, female first authors are well represented as authors of publications within Academic Pediatrics, though a gap persists among senior authors. Female senior authors play an important role in mentoring first author publications within Academic Pediatrics. Achieving gender parity in research publication may help to increase numbers and retention of female physician-scientists, enhance the pool of female physician-scientist mentors, and improve the diversity of research teams ultimately leading to increased representation of female physician-scientists in leadership positions within academia.
