Gender Disparities in Authorship of Invited Manuscripts During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Women have historically been under-represented in medical literature, particularly prominent in authorship of invited commentaries. With the instantaneous change in work environment forcing Americans to adapt to working at home, many theorize that women will be more adversely affected due to traditional concepts of women being more responsible for the home in addition to work responsibilities. Objective: Understand how women contributed to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) literature early in the pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of manuscripts published in three high-impact U.S. medical journals from February to May 2020 was performed. We used log-binomial regression to examine for an association between COVID-19 status and likelihood of having at least one female first author, and evaluated for effect modification according to whether the manuscript was invited. Results: Among 980 manuscripts, 313 (31.9%) listed at least one female first author, 203 were written on COVID-19 (20.7%), and 144 (14.7%) were invited. There was no association between COVID-19 status and having at least one female first author overall (adjusted risk ratio [RR] 0.93, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.72–1.19). The relationship between COVID-19 status and first-author sex was 0.23 (95% CI 0.06–0.92) for invited manuscripts and 1.04 (95% CI 0.81–1.35) for noninvited manuscripts ( p for interaction 0.02). Discussion: We demonstrate that women were not less likely to be first authors on COVID-19 manuscripts but were less likely to be first authors on invited COVID-19 manuscripts. Early career female researchers are the most vulnerable for inability to meet metrics for promotion, accounting for the continued under-representation of women in senior academic roles. COVID-19 has the potential to exacerbate this disparity.

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

“…However, these studies either included a broad range of article types such as news and opinions as well as research publications, and/or selected data only on the early months of the pandemic in 2020, or were focused on an individual journal, medical specialty, or geographic region. 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 A more recent large study of first authorship attainment, in PubMed indexed life sciences articles with the term “covid” in the title and/or abstract published up to January 2021, found an overall gender gap in the early periods of the pandemic (1 February to 31 May 2020), but with a trend backwards to expected values over time in various medical disciplines. 14 Two further studies showed no gender disparities in publications in the early months of the pandemic, but these were undertaken only in American journals or in a single specialty, medical imaging.…”

“… 14 Two further studies showed no gender disparities in publications in the early months of the pandemic, but these were undertaken only in American journals or in a single specialty, medical imaging. 15 19 …”

“…Some early studies looking at the impact of the opening months of the pandemic on published articles have shown underrepresentation of women overall and in prominent (first, last) authorship positions, specifically in articles related to covid-19. However, these studies either included a broad range of article types such as news and opinions as well as research publications, and/or selected data only on the early months of the pandemic in 2020, or were focused on an individual journal, medical specialty, or geographic region 8101112131415161718. A more recent large study of first authorship attainment, in PubMed indexed life sciences articles with the term “covid” in the title and/or abstract published up to January 2021, found an overall gender gap in the early periods of the pandemic (1 February to 31 May 2020), but with a trend backwards to expected values over time in various medical disciplines 14.…”

“…A more recent large study of first authorship attainment, in PubMed indexed life sciences articles with the term “covid” in the title and/or abstract published up to January 2021, found an overall gender gap in the early periods of the pandemic (1 February to 31 May 2020), but with a trend backwards to expected values over time in various medical disciplines 14. Two further studies showed no gender disparities in publications in the early months of the pandemic, but these were undertaken only in American journals or in a single specialty, medical imaging 1519…”

Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages

“…Academicians also face many of the challenges for gender equality that impacted those in other professions such as eldercare and childcare. Gender gaps have been shown for academic fields and science [5,13], and COVID-19 has amplified these gender inequalities in academia [14,15] that have been long discussed for decades. Well-known factors for the existing gender inequality are the unequal distribution of care and domestic labor between men and women [16].…”