Rationale and Objectives
Underrepresentation of women in many scientific fields has been linked to biases against
female-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals, thereby reducing their opportunities
for career development and promotions. The objective of this study is to determine
the representation of female academic radiologists in four flagship general radiology
journals to elucidate gender-specific trends and disparities in academic radiology.
Materials and Methods
We analyzed 23,741 peer-reviewed articles published in Radiology, American Journal of Roentgenology, Journal of the American College of Radiology
and Academic Radiology from 2007 to 2020. Data abstraction and statistical analysis were performed for author
gender, first and last authorship, research funding, and number of citations and grants.
Baseline demographics data of academic radiologists was obtained from the Association
of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
Results
A total of 72.4% of authors were male with 54% of articles were written by a male
first author and male last author. When compared with assumed random pairing, there
were significantly fewer Male/Female author combinations and more Female/Female author
combinations than expected (p<0.01). Over the 13-year time period, the rate of increase in the number of female
authors exceeded the rate of increase in women in academic radiology as reported by
the AAMC. Female last authors received on average 3.2 less citations than their male
counterparts (p=.03). Of manuscripts with last female authors, 31.7% of female last authors were
funded compared to 25.9% of last male authors.
Conclusion
This study showed the increasing numbers and higher productivity of female authors
in academic radiology, suggesting progress is being made in overcoming gender disparities.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Academic RadiologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Cash for papers: putting a premium on publication.Nature. 2006; 441: 792https://doi.org/10.1038/441792b
- An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005; 102: 16569-16572https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507655102
- Future impact: predicting scientific success.Nature. 2012; 489: 201-202https://doi.org/10.1038/489201a
- American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).2019 (Available at) (Accessed February 23, 2022)
- Identifying barriers to building a diverse physician workforce: a national survey of the ACR membership.J Am Coll Radiol. 2019; 16: 1091-1101https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2019.05.008
- 2020 Physician Specialty Data Report.2020 (Accessed November 18, 2022)
- Association of author gender with sex bias in surgical research.JAMA Surg. 2018; https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2018.0040
- Underrepresentation of Women and Minorities in the United States IR Academic Physician Workforce.J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2016; 27 (e2): 1837-1844https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2016.06.011
- Sexual Harassment in Medicine - #MeToo.N Engl J Med. 2018; 378: 209-211https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1715962
- Sex, role models, and specialty choices among graduates of US medical schools in 2006-2008.J Am Coll Surg. 2014; 218: 345-352https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2013.11.012
- Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Experiences of Academic Medical Faculty.JAMA. 2016; 315: 2120-2121https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.2188
- The representation of women on the editorial boards of major medical journals: a 35-year perspective.AMA Arch Intern Med. 2008; 168: 544-548https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.168.5.544
- Characterizing the Impact of Women in Academic IR: A 12-Year Analysis.J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2018; 29: 1553-1557https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2018.06.010
- The State of Women in Academic Medicine: The Pipeline and Pathways to Leadership.Web Page, Washington DC2016 (Accessed November 18, 2022)
- academic radiology in the united states: defining gender disparities in faculty leadership and academic rank.Acad Radiol. 2021; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2021.05.016
- Trends in gender and racial profiles of US Academic Radiology Faculty.J Am Coll Radiol. 2020; 17: 1337-1343https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2020.03.019
- “Report on Residents”.2021 (Accessed November 18, 2022)
- Current state of bibliometric research on the scholarly activity of academic radiologists.Acad Radiol. 2022; 29: 107-118https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2020.10.011
- Gender diversity among editorial boards of radiology-related journals.Clin Imaging. 2021; 75: 30-33https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinimag.2021.01.007
- Do gender disparities among major radiological society award recipients exist?.Acad Radiol. 2020; 27: 987-995https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2019.10.012
- National institutes of health: gender differences in radiology funding.Acad Radiol. 2020; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2020.08.004
- Gender variation in invited presenters at two national radiology specialty meetings.Curr Probl Diagn Radiol. 2021; 50: 472-476https://doi.org/10.1067/j.cpradiol.2020.05.002
- Gender trends in radiology authorship: a 35-year analysis.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2016; 206: 3-7https://doi.org/10.2214/AJR.15.15116
- Representation of women on radiology journal editorial boards: a 40-year analysis.Acad Radiol. 2018; 25: 1640-1645https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2018.03.031
- Women in radiology: why is the pipeline still leaking and how can we plug it?.Acta Radiol. 2020; 61: 743-748https://doi.org/10.1177/0284185119881723
- Influences for gender disparity in the radiology societies in North America.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2018; 211: 831-838https://doi.org/10.2214/ajr.18.19741
- Nepotism and sexism in peer-review.Nature. 1997; 387: 341-343https://doi.org/10.1038/387341a0
- Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012; 109: 16474-16479https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1211286109
- Survey finds gender disparities impact both women mentors and mentees in gastroenterology.Am J Gastroenterol. 2021; 116: 1876-1884https://doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000001341
- The impact of gender in mentor-mentee success: Results from the Women's Dermatologic Society Mentorship Survey.Int J Womens Dermatol. 2021; 7: 398-402https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijwd.2021.04.010
- Authorship and impact of gender-specific research in major radiology journals.J Am Coll Radiol. 2019; 16: 240-243https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2018.08.024
American College of Radiology 2019. #HeForShe. Available at: https://www.acr.org/Member-Resources/Commissions-Committees/Women-Diversity/HeForShe, Accessed November 18, 2022
- Addressing needs of women radiologists: opportunities for practice leaders to facilitate change.Radiographics. 2018; 38: 1626-1637https://doi.org/10.1148/rg.2018180023
- Gender-based survey analysis of research and mentoring in interventional radiology.J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2022; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2022.01.010
- The need to mitigate unconscious bias to improve sponsorship opportunities for underrepresented faculty in academic radiology.AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2022; 218: 378-379https://doi.org/10.2214/ajr.21.26481
- Modality interpretation among radiologists: opportunities for equality, wellness, and satisfaction.Acad Radiol. 2020; 27: 1338-1339https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2020.05.034
- Influences for gender disparity in academic neuroradiology.AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2018; 39: 18-23https://doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.A5443
- Equal pay for equal work in radiology: expired excuses and solutions for change.Clin Imaging. 2022; 83: 93-98https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinimag.2021.12.015
- Gender Differences in Academic Medicine: Retention, Rank, and Leadership Comparisons From the National Faculty Survey.Acad Med. 2018; https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002146
- Quantitative evaluation of gender bias in astronomical publications from citation counts.Nat Astron. 2017; 1https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0141
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: November 21, 2022
Accepted:
October 31,
2022
Received in revised form:
October 19,
2022
Received:
September 19,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
