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Academic medicine’s glass ceiling: Author’s gender in top three medical research journals impacts probability of future publication success

Author

Listed:
  • John E Krstacic
  • Brendan M Carr
  • Ashutosh R Yaligar
  • Annet S Kuruvilla
  • Joshua S Helali
  • Jamie Saragossi
  • Chencan Zhu
  • Robert Hutnik
  • Mohammad Noubani
  • Jie Yang
  • Henry J Tannous
  • A Laurie W Shroyer

Abstract

Introduction: In December 2017, Lancet called for gender inequality investigations. Holding other factors constant, trends over time for significant author (i.e., first, second, last or any of these authors) publications were examined for the three highest-impact medical research journals (i.e., New England Journal of Medicine [NEJM], Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA], and Lancet). Materials and methods: Using randomly sampled 2002-2019 MEDLINE original publications (n = 1,080; 20/year/journal), significant author-based and publication-based characteristics were extracted. Gender assignment used internet-based biographies, pronouns, first names, and photographs. Adjusting for author-specific characteristics and multiple publications per author, generalized estimating equations tested for first, second, and last significant author gender disparities. Results: Compared to 37.23% of 2002 – 2019 U.S. medical school full-time faculty that were women, women’s first author publication rates (26.82% overall, 15.83% NEJM, 29.38% Lancet, and 35.39% JAMA; all p

Suggested Citation

  • John E Krstacic & Brendan M Carr & Ashutosh R Yaligar & Annet S Kuruvilla & Joshua S Helali & Jamie Saragossi & Chencan Zhu & Robert Hutnik & Mohammad Noubani & Jie Yang & Henry J Tannous & A Laurie W, 2022. "Academic medicine’s glass ceiling: Author’s gender in top three medical research journals impacts probability of future publication success," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(4), pages 1-21, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0261209
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261209
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Erin Hengel & Eunyoung Moon, 2020. "Gender and quality at top economics journals," Working Papers 202001, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    2. Lorenzo Ductor & Sanjeev Goyal & Anja Prummer, 2023. "Gender and Collaboration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1366-1378, November.
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