TY - JOUR
T1 - Redefining the Gender Gap in Urology Authorship
T2 - An 18-Year Publication Analysis
AU - Prunty, Megan
AU - Rhodes, Stephen
AU - Sun, Helen
AU - Psutka, Sarah P.
AU - Mishra, Kirtishri
AU - Kutikov, Alexander
AU - Chen, David
AU - Ponsky, Lee
AU - Calaway, Adam
AU - Bukavina, Laura
N1 - Copyright © 2021 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - Background: Academic authorship is a critical productivity metric used for academic promotion. Objective: To characterize temporal changes in female representation in academic authorship in ten primary urology journals as the complement of female urologists is increasing. Design, setting, and participants: Publication records were retrieved from 2002 to 2020 for the ten urology journals with the highest impact factor. The names of all authors were gathered and gender was inferred using first names. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Trends in first and last/senior authorship by gender were evaluated overall, within journals, and by geographic region. Results: A total of 59,375 articles were analyzed, of which 94.1% had gender information for the first author and 94.2% had gender information for the last author. The percentage of overall female authors increased positively from 17.2% (95% highest density interval [HDI] 12.9–21.4%) in 2002 to 27.2% (HDI 21.7–33.6%; p < 0.01) in 2020. Overall female first authorship increased from 15.2% (95% HDI 11.0–19.5%) to 28.5% (95% HDI 21.8–35.6%; p < 0.01). There was also significant growth for female senior authors from 10.4% (95% HDI 7.6–13.5%) to 18.6% (95% HDI 13.6–23.8%; p < 0.01). Assessment of journal-specific changes revealed that Neurourology and Urodynamics (12.6%, 95% HDI 9.9–15.1%) and The Journal of Sexual Medicine (16.2%, 95% HDI 13.6–19.0%) had significantly higher growth in female authorship when compared to Journal of Endourology (7.2%, 95% HDI 5.5–8.7%) and Urologic Oncology (4.5%, 95% HDI 2.0–6.8%; p < 0.05). Conclusions: Although overall female authorship increased between 2002 and 2020, women remain underrepresented in urology authorship. The percentage of females in senior (last) author positions is less than the percentage of females in first author positions. Journal-specific differences can probably be attributed to gender-based differences in subspecialized fields. Patient summary: In this study, we characterized the underrepresentation of women as authors in urology journals and analyzed the change in female authorship for ten academic urology journals over the course of 18 years. Although the proportion of female authors has increased over that time, the percentage of females in senior authorship roles is less than the percentage of females in first author positions.
AB - Background: Academic authorship is a critical productivity metric used for academic promotion. Objective: To characterize temporal changes in female representation in academic authorship in ten primary urology journals as the complement of female urologists is increasing. Design, setting, and participants: Publication records were retrieved from 2002 to 2020 for the ten urology journals with the highest impact factor. The names of all authors were gathered and gender was inferred using first names. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Trends in first and last/senior authorship by gender were evaluated overall, within journals, and by geographic region. Results: A total of 59,375 articles were analyzed, of which 94.1% had gender information for the first author and 94.2% had gender information for the last author. The percentage of overall female authors increased positively from 17.2% (95% highest density interval [HDI] 12.9–21.4%) in 2002 to 27.2% (HDI 21.7–33.6%; p < 0.01) in 2020. Overall female first authorship increased from 15.2% (95% HDI 11.0–19.5%) to 28.5% (95% HDI 21.8–35.6%; p < 0.01). There was also significant growth for female senior authors from 10.4% (95% HDI 7.6–13.5%) to 18.6% (95% HDI 13.6–23.8%; p < 0.01). Assessment of journal-specific changes revealed that Neurourology and Urodynamics (12.6%, 95% HDI 9.9–15.1%) and The Journal of Sexual Medicine (16.2%, 95% HDI 13.6–19.0%) had significantly higher growth in female authorship when compared to Journal of Endourology (7.2%, 95% HDI 5.5–8.7%) and Urologic Oncology (4.5%, 95% HDI 2.0–6.8%; p < 0.05). Conclusions: Although overall female authorship increased between 2002 and 2020, women remain underrepresented in urology authorship. The percentage of females in senior (last) author positions is less than the percentage of females in first author positions. Journal-specific differences can probably be attributed to gender-based differences in subspecialized fields. Patient summary: In this study, we characterized the underrepresentation of women as authors in urology journals and analyzed the change in female authorship for ten academic urology journals over the course of 18 years. Although the proportion of female authors has increased over that time, the percentage of females in senior authorship roles is less than the percentage of females in first author positions.
KW - Gender
KW - Practice patterns
KW - Urology
KW - Women
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122007421&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.euf.2021.12.001
DO - 10.1016/j.euf.2021.12.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 34975008
AN - SCOPUS:85122007421
SN - 2405-4569
VL - 8
SP - 1512
EP - 1519
JO - European Urology Focus
JF - European Urology Focus
IS - 5
ER -