key: cord-0774697-ab7cx4qv authors: Mannix, Alexandra; Parsons, Melissa; Davenport, Dayle; Monteiro, Sandra; Gottlieb, Michael title: The impact of COVID-19 on the gender distribution of emergency medicine journal authors date: 2021-07-04 journal: Am J Emerg Med DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2021.06.055 sha: be55665e1a0b1cea11149bda76103b0ae291ffe7 doc_id: 774697 cord_uid: ab7cx4qv nan and Chi-Square Test Calculator (https://www.socscistatistics.com/ tests/chisquare2/default2.aspx). We reviewed 1162 articles with 5828 authors. Of these, 445 articles were from AEM and 717 were from Annals Out of the 5828 total authors, 1935 (33.2%) were female, 3668 (62.9%) were male, and 225 (3.9%) were unknown gender. Among first authors (n = 1162), 355 (30.6%) were female, 765 (65.8%) were male, and 42 (3.6%) were unknown. Among last authors (n = 1019), 231 (22.7%) were female, 749 (73.5%) were male, and 39 (3.8%) were unknown. A Chi-squared analysis of all articles revealed a significant difference between the distribution of female and male authors overall (X 2 1 = 457), first (X 2 2 = 678) and last authors (X 2 2 = 794). However, there was no difference in this overall pattern when comparing pre-COVID-19 to the peri-COVID-19 data ( Table 1) . Fig. 1 demonstrates the trend of gender distribution of first and last authors over time. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gender distribution of authors in EM. Overall, we found that a gender gap was present among publications, however this does not appear to be impacted by COVID-19. In our study, we found that 30.6% of first authors were female, which is consistent with other data [6] . Interestingly, the gender disparity was more prominent among last authors, where female authors comprised only 22.7%. The last author position is often more highly valued by promotion and tenure committees, this highlights a need to increase gender equity across authorship, with an emphasis on first and last author positions. Surprisingly, we did not identify a difference in gender distribution of total, first, or last authors when comparing pre-COVID-19 with peri-COVID-19 publications. One study comparing COVID-19 specific papers versus papers from 2019 reported a 19% reduction in the proportion of female first authors [9] . However, this study included multiple fields Table 1 Gender Distribution of all authors in Annals of Emergency Medicine and Academic Emergency Medicine comparing pre-COVID-19 (March 2019 to February 2020) and peri-COVID-19 (March 2020 to February 2021). Peri-COVID-19 Authors (%) with EM comprising only 54 COVID-19 publications. Another study of publications from January to April 2020 reported that the gender gap increased two-fold in medRxiv, while there was no difference in bioRxiv [10] . It is possible that the impact of COVID-19 may have a more delayed impact which will take years to fully present. This study has several limitations. First, gender is non-binary and self-determined. We defined gender using Genderize™, which is an online platform that has been previously utilized for this [6, 8] . While we only utilized this when the probability was >0.90 and used faculty profiles for all other cases. Genderize™ have miscategorized some authors as it relies on first names rather than directly surveying the authors themselves, which would not have been feasible. We utilized a fourmonth time delay to account for time to publication. However, given the time required for many studies to get published, it is possible that this may have been too soon to see the full impact on gender representation in publications. Finally, we selected only the top two journals in EM. It is not known if the findings reflect other journals in EM or in other fields. While the full impact of COVID-19 on gender equality may not be known for many years, we found no statistically significant difference among first, last, and total authors between the pre-COVID-19 and peri-COVID-19 time periods. Future research should assess the delayed impact of COVID-19 on publications and academic promotion. None. All authors report no prior presentations. Time spent on professional activities and unwaged domestic work. Is it different for male and female primary care physicians who have children at home? Can Fam Physician Gender differences in time spent on parenting and domestic responsibilities by high-achieving young physician-researchers Collateral damage: how COVID-19 is adversely impacting women physicians Gender differences in physician use of social media for professional advancement Gender trends in emergency medicine publications State of the journal: women first authors, peer reviewers, and editorial board members at annals of emergency medicine The strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies Sex distribution of editorial board members among emergency medicine journals COVID-19 medical papers have fewer women first authors than expected. eLife Comparison of the proportions of female and male corresponding authors in preprint research repositories before and during the COVID-19 pandemic The authors wish to thank Dr. Teresa Chan for her guidance and advice on this manuscript, as well as the Diversity Inclusion Research and Education Collaboration Team (DIRECT).