Female gastroenterologists have increasingly stepped into senior academic authorship roles, but their numbers remain lower than expected.
Here are six things to know about the study "Female authorship in major academic gastroenterology journals: A look over 20 years."
1. The study authors examined authorship in five major journals at five-year intervals from 1992 to 2012. The journals analyzed in the study include:
• Gastroenterology
• Hepatology
• American Journal of Gastroenterology
• Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology
• GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
2. The study sample included 2,275 original research articles.
3. Overall, 18 percent of first authors were female, while 10.1 percent of senior authors were female. From 1992 to 2012, the percentage of female first authors increased from 9.1 percent to 29.3 percent.
4. The probability of female authorship was greater in liver-related publications, but lower in endoscopy and pancreatobiliary publications.
5. "Future research should explore potential reasons for the lower rates of female authorship in the senior author position and whether this relates to individual preferences or more systemic issues," said lead author Michelle Long, MD.
6. The study was published in GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.