key: cord-0989955-io1dqa8s
authors: Cooks, Julia; Gupta, Megha; Nakayama, John; El-Nashar, Sherif; Kesterson, Joshua; Wagner, Stephen
title: Gender Differences in Authorship of Obstetrics and Gynecology Publications During the COVID-19 Pandemic
date: 2020-10-20
journal: Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2020.100268
sha: a3d0605ee903dd163344ed120a09be8838053b51
doc_id: 989955
cord_uid: io1dqa8s

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websites were performed. Investigators with rank of assistant professor or below were considered junior faculty; associate professors, full professors, and directors were considered senior faculty. A binomial probability calculator or a Chi-square test was used to compare gender distributions and academic rank where appropriate.

A total of 655 obstetric and gynecological articles were published between January 2020 and June 2020 where first author gender could be identified. While representing 57% of academic faculty, females had a disproportionately higher number of first author publications at 63.1% (p<.0001). Overall, publications were more likely to have junior faculty as the first author (p<.0001). There was no difference in academic rank among authors of COVID-19 focused publications (p=.389). In comparison to the pre-COVID-19 era, there was no difference in the gender of the first authors during the COVID-19 era (P=.471). In the COVID-19 era, there was a significant decrease in publications by junior faculty (p<.0001).

This study found that majority of publications in high impact factor journals in Obstetrics and Gynecology have females as first authors. There was no change in the rates of females as first authors following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic did result in a higher proportion of subsequent publications being authored by senior researchers. This suggests that junior faculty are more vulnerable to the social and professional disruptions that the COVID-19 pandemic has incurred. A limitation to this study is that the senior authors and genders were not analyzed for comparison. These findings suggest the need to further explore the intersection between gender differences in academic rank and publications among specialties beyond Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

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