Assessing the gender gap in musculoskeletal radiology authorship across three continents: are really the “ladies first”?
Publication type
journal article
Publication date
2022
Author(s)
Language
English
Abstract
AIM To assess gender-specific authorship trends in musculoskeletal (MSK) radiology in three major radiology journals, Skeletal Radiology (SR), Clinical Radiology (CR) and Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging (IJRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS Retrospective analysis of articles pertaining to MSK radiology was done for the years 2000, 2010, and 2020 for SR and CR and for the years 2010 and 2020 for IJRI. The number and positions of female authors was noted. RESULTS Three hundred and twenty-five articles were reviewed after excluding the articles where the gender of one or more authors could not be conclusively determined. In SR, the percentage of female authors increased significantly from 4% in 2000 to 17% in 2010 (p<0.0001) and to 21.9% in 2020 (p<0.0001) with an increase in the percentage of first female authors from 0.8% in 2000 to 4.9% in 2010 and further to 5.4% in 2020. In CR, the percentage of female authors reduced from 13.8% in 2000 to 13.6% in 2010 (p=0.9798 and further reduced to 7% in 2020 (p=0.1592). In IJRI, the percentage of articles with no female authors went down from 36.4% (2010) to 26.7% (2020). CONCLUSION There is an upward trend in female authorship in MSK radiology related articles in SR and IJRI with continued under-representation in CR. The first and middle order female authors have shown a significant increase, although the number of last female authors remains very low. Analysis of such trends in academic journals from other subspecialities in medicine needs to be undertaken to confirm or refute the findings of this study.
Journal
Clinical Radiology
ISSN
0009-9260
Volume
77
Issue
10
Pagination
724-729