Gender Differences in First and Corresponding Authorship in Public Health Research Submissions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objectives. To investigate the rate of manuscript submission to a major peer-reviewed journal (American Journal of Public Health) by gender, comparing periods before and during the pandemic. Methods. We used data from January 1 to May 12, 2020, and defined the start of the pandemic period by country as the first date of 50 or more confirmed cases. We used an algorithm to classify gender based on first name and nation of origin. We included authors whose gender could be estimated with a certainty of at least 95%. Results. Submission rates were higher overall during the pandemic compared with before. Increases were higher for submissions from men compared with women (41.9% vs 10.9% for corresponding author). For the United States, submissions increased 23.8% for men but only 7.9% for women. Women authored 29.4% of COVID-19–related articles. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that the pandemic exacerbated gender imbalances in scientific research. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print November 19, 2020: e1–e4. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305975 )

Female authorship of covid-19 research in manuscripts submitted to 11 biomedical journals: cross sectional study

“…These studies also showed that women submitted proportionately fewer articles overall (from −0.9% up to −24%) than men in the early months of the pandemic and authored fewer covid-19 related articles overall (−7.6% fewer female than male co-authors in health and medicine). 8 10 20 21 Bell et al’s smaller study of submissions to American Public Health showed the proportions of first and corresponding authorships to be significantly higher for men (36% and 42% respectively) than women (12% and 11% respectively) between April and May 2020 compared with April to May 2019, but with variation by country. Similarly to us, Bell et al also reported that less than a third of covid-19 related submissions had female corresponding authors.…”

“…Similarly to us, Bell et al also reported that less than a third of covid-19 related submissions had female corresponding authors. 20 Williams et al’s analysis of the increased volume of submissions to the American Journal of Pediatrics during January to May 2020 found that the greatest increase was in international male corresponding authors. 10 Like Squazzoni et al, who looked at the number of manuscripts submitted by female and male authors (regardless of authorship position) in the opening months of the pandemic, we found a lower proportion of female than male co-authors in the covid-19 manuscripts (median 33.3%), which was even lower in January to May 2020 (median 28.6%), compared with the pre-pandemic period (median 36.4%).…”

The influence of the global COVID‐19 pandemic on manuscript submissions and editor and reviewer performance at six ecology journals

“…While it is too early to fully understand the effects of the pandemic on scholarly publishing, preliminary observations have suggested that submissions to journals have generally increased during the pandemic (Bell & Fong, 2020; Squazzoni et al, 2020), likely because many researchers lost access to their laboratories for some time and switched over to writing papers (Aubry et al, 2020). However, analyses of submissions to preprint servers (Cui et al, 2020; King & Frederickson, 2020; Viglione, 2020; Vincent‐Lamarre et al, 2020) and journals (Bell & Fong, 2020; Kibbe, 2020; McCormick, 2020; Muric et al, 2020; Shurchkov, 2020; Squazzoni et al, 2020; but see Dolan & Lawless, 2020) suggest that submissions from women have either grown less than those from men, or have even declined, though the magnitude and presence of the gender difference has varied among disciplines. A decrease in the proportion of submissions authored by women suggests that the productivity of female scholars has been more substantially impacted by pandemic disruptions, compared to the productivity of male scholars, likely because many communities have closed primary schools, childcare facilities, and other public and private institutions that help manage children (Alon et al., 2020).…”

Shaping the Future of Science: COVID‐19 Highlighting the Importance of GeoHealth

“…With school closings and reduced childcare options, many scientists have had fewer hours for research, teaching, professional development, and other scientific endeavors. As a whole, women have been more negatively affected, exacerbating the gender imbalance in academia and scientific research more broadly (Bell & Fong, 2021). Universities are also experiencing substantial strains as they formulate protocols and processes to operate safely, with virtual classes, extensive virus testing and tracing, and look to creatively adapt to societal changes in the future (e.g., with new online degree offerings).…”