Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Ave MU-320W, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Ave MU-320W, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
Spine J. 2017 Nov;17(11):1749-1754. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2017.06.041. Epub 2017 Jul 1.
Despite recent advances in gender equity in medicine, the representation of women in orthopedic and neurosurgery remains particularly low. Furthermore, compared with their male colleagues, female faculty members are less likely to publish research, limiting opportunities in the academic promotion process. Understanding disparities in research productivity provides insight into the "gender gap" in the spine surgeon workforce.
This study aims to determine the representation and longevity of female physician-investigators among the authors of five spine-related research journals from 1978 to 2016.
This is a retrospective bibliometric review.
The authors of original research articles from five prominent spine-related journals (European Spine Journal, The Spine Journal, Spine, Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques, and Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine) were extracted from PubMed. For authors with a complete first name listed, gender was determined by matching first name using an online database containing 216,286 distinct names across 79 countries and 89 languages. The proportion of female first and senior authors was determined during the time periods 1978 to 1994, 1995 to 1999, 2000 to 2004, 2005 to 2009, and 2010 to 2016. The authors who had their first paper published between 2000 and 2009 were included in additional analyses for publication count and longevity (whether additional articles were published 5 years after first publication). Student t test, chi-square analysis, and Cochran-Armitage trend test were used to determine significance between groups.
From 1978 to 2016, 28,882 original research articles were published in the five spine-related journals. A total of 24,334 abstracts (90.9%) had first names listed, identifying 120,723 authors, in total of which 100,286 were successfully matched to a gender. A total of 33,480 unique authors were identified (female authors: 31.8%). Female representation increased for first and senior authors from 6.5% and 4.7% (1978-1994) to 18.5% and 13.6% (2010-2016, p<.001). Growth in female senior author representation declined after 2000 (12.3% vs. 12.9% vs. 13.5% between 2000-2004, 2005-2009, and 2010-2016). Compared with male authors, on average, female authors published fewer articles (mean: 2.1 vs. 3.3, p<.001). Of 15,304 authors who first published during 2000 to 2009, 3,478 authors (22.7%) continued to publish 5 years after their first publication. Female authors were less likely to continue publishing after their first article (15.3% of female authors vs. 24.8%, p<.001).
Female representation in academic spine research has doubled over the past 4 decades, although the growth of female representation as senior author has plateaued. Female physician-investigators are half as likely to continue participating in spine-related research longer than 5 years and on average publish half as many articles as senior author. In addition to recruiting more women into research, efforts should be made to identify and address barriers in research advancement and promotion for female physician-investigators.
尽管医学领域的性别平等最近取得了一些进展，但在骨科和神经外科领域，女性的代表性仍然特别低。此外，与男性同行相比，女性教职员工发表研究的可能性较低，这限制了她们在学术晋升过程中的机会。了解研究成果方面的差异可以深入了解脊柱外科医生队伍中的“性别差距”。
本研究旨在确定从 1978 年到 2016 年，在五个与脊柱相关的研究期刊的作者中，女性医师研究员的代表性和任职时间。
这是一项回顾性的文献计量学研究。
从五个著名的脊柱相关期刊（欧洲脊柱杂志、脊柱杂志、脊柱、脊柱疾病与技术杂志和神经外科杂志：脊柱）的 PubMed 中提取原始研究文章的作者。对于有完整列出的第一名字的作者，通过使用一个包含 79 个国家和 89 种语言的 216286 个不同名字的在线数据库来确定其性别。在 1978 年至 1994 年、1995 年至 1999 年、2000 年至 2004 年、2005 年至 2009 年和 2010 年至 2016 年期间，确定女性第一作者和资深作者的比例。在 2000 年至 2009 年期间首次发表论文的作者被纳入了关于论文数量和任职时间（在首次发表后的 5 年内是否发表了额外的文章）的额外分析。使用学生 t 检验、卡方分析和 Cochrane-Armitage 趋势检验来确定组间的显著性。
从 1978 年到 2016 年，五个与脊柱相关的期刊共发表了 28882 篇原始研究文章。共有 24334 篇摘要（90.9%）列出了第一名字，总共确定了 120723 名作者，其中 100286 名作者成功匹配到性别。总共确定了 33480 名独特的作者（女性作者：31.8%）。女性第一作者和资深作者的代表性从 1978 年至 1994 年的 6.5%和 4.7%增加到 2010 年至 2016 年的 18.5%和 13.6%（p<.001）。2000 年后，女性资深作者的代表性增长有所下降（2000-2004 年、2005-2009 年和 2010-2016 年分别为 12.3%、12.9%和 13.5%）。与男性作者相比，女性作者平均发表的文章较少（平均值：2.1 篇与 3.3 篇，p<.001）。在 2000 年至 2009 年期间首次发表的 15304 名作者中，有 3478 名作者（22.7%）在首次发表后的 5 年内继续发表文章。女性作者在首次发表后继续发表文章的可能性较小（女性作者占 15.3%，男性作者占 24.8%，p<.001）。
在过去的 40 年里，女性在学术脊柱研究中的代表性增加了一倍，尽管女性作为资深作者的代表性增长已经趋于平稳。女性医师研究员在 5 年以上继续参与脊柱相关研究的可能性是男性的一半，平均发表的资深作者文章数量是男性的一半。除了招募更多的女性参与研究外，还应努力确定并解决女性医师研究员在研究进展和晋升方面的障碍。
