The increasing female participation in authorship of articles published in neurology in Brazil

Abstract

-During the past four decades the participation of women in medicine has increased dramatically. This study is focused on the women's participation in authorship of articles published in the Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, the official Journal of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology. The articles were analyzed according to the number of articles and sex of both first and the senior (last) authors. The data were collected from 1945 to 2005. A total of 950 articles were published in this period. The proportion of women serving as first authors increased from 2.8% to 36.6% and the proportion serving as senior authors increased from 2.8% to 23.8% The medical profession and the scientific production have traditionally been dominated by men but this imbalance is likely to change. In fact, during the past four decades the participation of women in medicine has increased dramatically. In the USA, for example, the proportion of women as authors of articles from six prominent medical journals -N Engl J Med, JAMA, Ann Intern Med, Ann Surg, Obst Gynecol, and J Pediatr -has significatively increased 1 . In this study we focused on the women's participation in authorship of articles published in the Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, the official journal of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology. METHODThe articles from the Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria were categorized according to the number of articles and the sex of both first and the senior (last listed) authors. The data were collected for the years 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005. RESULTSA total of 950 articles were published in the journal during the years studied. Overall, 19.5% (186/950) of the first authors and 18.4% (175/950) of the senior authors were women. The proportion of women serving as first authors increased from 2.8% (1/35) to 36.6% (77/210), and the proportion of women serving as senior authors increased from 2.8% (1/35) to 23.8% (50/210) (Table). DISCUSSIONThis study demonstrates a substantial increase in women' s representation as the principal or senior authors of scientific articles published in the Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, the main Brazilian journal in the neurology field. Dur-

Gender gap in the authorship of published articles in the Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México

“…Other studies have also reported an increase in the women's participation in the authorship of articles, with figures close to 30% in the recent decades 3,6,7,9,10,15 , and even in the most recent study, a figure of 37% was reported 13 . Despite the above, most studies conclude that the women's participation as authors is still lower compared to men, especially concerning areas related to surgery 4,14,17 , which has been linked to lower participation of women in surgical specialties.…”

“…It could be expected that the increase in the women's participation in different medical specialties would be parallel to an increase in scientific production; however, this is not always true. Some reports indicate that a gender gap persists in scientific publications in different specialties [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] while others report a notable reduction 7,[15][16][17] .…”

Gender-Related Trends in Publication Authorship: A 10-Year Analysis of a Brazilian Surgical Journal

“…In Brazil, there have been a few studies assessing gender trends in the medical literature authorship. In a study of the Brazilian neurology journal, it was found that women represented 19.5% of the first authors and 18.4% of the senior authors [ 11 ]. Women are also underrepresented as first, senior, and editorial authors worldwide in many medical specialties such as internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, otorhinolaryngology, and ophthalmology [ 2 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Brecha de género en la autoría de artículos publicados en el Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México

“…Uno de los estudios más importantes en el que se evaluó la brecha de género en la autoría de revistas Tabla 1. Número total de artículos, frecuencia de estudios analíticos y porcentaje de autoría de las mujeres por año de publicación Otros estudios también han reportado el incremento de la participación de las mujeres en la autoría de artículos, con cifras cercanas al 30% en las últimas décadas 3,6,7,9,10,15 , e incluso en el más reciente se menciona una cifra del 37% 13 . A pesar de ello, la mayoría de los estudios concluyen que la participación de las mujeres como autoras sigue siendo menor en comparación con los hombres, especialmente en lo referente a las áreas relacionadas con la cirugía 4,14,17 , lo cual ha sido relacionado con una menor participación de las mujeres en las especialidades quirúrgicas.…”