Gender Gap in Neurology Research Authorship (1946–2020)

Abstract

Gender disparity in the field of neurology impedes scientific advancements and innovations. In 2018, 45.0% of neurology and neurological subspecialty residents were women. Despite a notable rise in the proportion of women neurologists over the past decades, inequalities regarding publication proportions between men and women persist in the field. This cohort study examines authorship trends in articles published in 155 international neurology journals, identified as those listed in the annual Journal Citation Reports' “Clinical Neurology” section. Authors' names, authorship positions and countries of affiliation were extracted from PubMed for indexed articles published from 1946 to 2020. Gender-API (a validated and highly accurate application program interface) assigned binary genders to authors. Author gender proportions were compared across subspecialties, authorship position and years. In 303,385 unique articles, 1,663,036 total authors were identified of which 34.1% were women. Neuroradiology demonstrated the lowest proportion of women authors (21.3%), while neurogenetics displayed the highest (44.5%). In articles with multiple authors, both men and women last authors were more likely to publish with a male first author, though this was significantly more pronounced for men last authors (1.86 vs. 1.08; p < 0.001). From 2002 to 2020, women remained in the minority of last (24.6%), first (36.2%), and middle author positions (35.8%). The authorship gender distribution in neurological journals neither reflects the gender proportion of neurologists in the field overall nor in any subspecialty examined. We also find a tendency for senior and junior authors of the same gender to publish together which perpetuates authorship inequity. Further work is needed to identify underlying causes so that interventions might be developed to improve authorship diversity.

Gender disparities in multiple sclerosis research and leadership: A Colombian perspective

“…Moreover, despite the rising proportion of women in the field with postgraduate training in MS, their academic and leadership positions continue to be scarce; salaries are still inferior compared to men's and they are underrepresented in scientific literature. These results are aligned with those published in other countries ( 10 ). Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges showed that men outnumbered women at all levels in academic neurology programs (professor: 13%; associate professor: 30%; assistant professor: 43%; and instructor: 40%).…”

“…A study was done in Canada and the United States examined the authorship trends in neuroscience literature and found that men dominate first and last authorship. Furthermore, they found that men as the last authors were more likely to be published ( 10 ). The gender gap is also apparent within the pharmaceutical companies, which lead phase 3 trials in multiple sclerosis.…”

Thirty-year survey of bibliometrics used in the research literature of pain: Analysis, evolution, and pitfalls

“…This trend corroborates the results of two literature studies: in neurology by Nguyen et al (236) and in neuroscience by Dworkin et al (237). In the first study, the authors noted the increase of female authorship in journals classified in the MeSH Journal Category "Pain" from 7.6% to 35.4% in 2002-2020 (236). Although this positive trend is certainly encouraging and heading towards parity, a recent study revealed a highly skewed gender disparity in the publications of the pain research community with a prevalence of 70.6% male first authors and 81.6% male senior authors (176).…”

“…Two decades later, in a brief commentary, an impressive increase of the percentage of female authors in pain-related publications from 26.4% in 2005 to 40.5% in 2015 was noted by Szilagyi and Bornemann-Cimenti (171). This trend corroborates the results of two literature studies: in neurology by Nguyen et al (236) and in neuroscience by Dworkin et al (237). In the first study, the authors noted the increase of female authorship in journals classified in the MeSH Journal Category "Pain" from 7.6% to 35.4% in 2002-2020 (236).…”

Trends in self-citation rates in Neuroscience literature

“…This naturally leads to fewer self-citations for women, and it may reflect that women are less extensively included in co-authorship networks than men 27,28 . These self-citation and authorship discrepancies could contribute to the "leaky pipeline" of women in STEM 29 , which contributes to disparities in academic faculty positions [30][31][32] , editorial boards 33 , and awards 34 . Nevertheless, future work is needed to determine if and how lower self-citation rates contribute to these outcomes.…”