Department of Physical Therapy, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
Athletic and Human Performance Research Center, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
J Appl Physiol (1985). 2023 Oct 1;135(4):932-942. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00377.2023. Epub 2023 Aug 31.
Historically, low representation of women participants in exercise science and physiology studies has led to a lack of understanding in the response of women to exercise and therapeutic interventions. We hypothesized that ) the number of women authors, participants, and editorial board members increased over 30 years (1991-2021) and ) larger representation of women as editors and authors is associated with more women participants. Gender (man/woman) of editorial board members ( = 394), authors ( = 5,735), and participants ( = 2,984,883) of 972 original research articles with human participants published in 1991 and 2021 was analyzed from three journals: , , and . Between 1991 to 2021, the average percent women per article as participants (21.9 ± 31.7% vs. 36.3 ± 30.3%, respectively, < 0.001), authors (16.4 ± 22.4% vs. 30.9 ± 24.0%, < 0.001), and editorial board members (13.3 ± 5.4% vs. 41.5 ± 7.3%, = 0.006) increased. In 2021, the gender proportion of participants in large datasets was similar (50.2 ± 20.2% women). However, studies with smaller datasets (i.e., <∼3,000 participants) included less women (35.6 ± 30.6%). Women participants (%) were less when the last author was a man rather than a woman in 1991 (19.9 ± 29.5% vs. 34.3 ± 42.2%) and 2021 (31.6 ± 27.7% vs. 51.7 ± 33.4%). In 2021, there was a positive correlation between author and participant gender (% women) ( = 0.42, < 0.001). Our data suggest that the low representation of women in exercise science and physiology research could be resolved with equitable numbers of women authors and editors and by encouraging men authors to study both women and men participants. Analysis of human applied physiology studies revealed that the representation of women authors, participants, and editorial board members increased over 30 years but remained lower than men in 2021. Larger representation of women editors and authors was associated with more women participants. Women authors assessed similar numbers of women and men participants, whereas men authors included less women. Equitable representation of women participants may be achieved by closing the gender gap in authorship and editorial board membership.
从三个期刊中分析了 1991 年和 2021 年发表的 972 篇有人类参与者的原始研究文章的编辑委员会成员（=394）、作者（=5735）和参与者（=2984883）的性别（男/女）： ， 和 。1991 年至 2021 年，参与者的平均女性百分比（21.9±31.7%对 36.3±30.3%， ＜0.001）、作者（16.4±22.4%对 30.9±24.0%， ＜0.001）和编辑委员会成员（13.3±5.4%对 41.5±7.3%， =0.006）增加。2021 年，大型数据集的参与者性别比例相似（50.2±20.2%女性）。然而，较小数据集（即，＜∼3000 名参与者）的研究中女性参与者较少（35.6±30.6%）。1991 年（19.9±29.5%对 34.3±42.2%）和 2021 年（31.6±27.7%对 51.7±33.4%）最后一位作者为男性而不是女性时，女性参与者（%）较少。2021 年，作者和参与者性别（%女性）之间存在正相关（ =0.42， ＜0.001）。我们的数据表明，通过增加女性作者和编辑的人数，并鼓励男性作者研究女性和男性参与者，可以解决运动科学和生理学研究中女性代表性不足的问题。对人类应用生理学研究的分析表明，30 多年来，女性作者、参与者和编辑委员会成员的比例有所增加，但 2021 年仍低于男性。女性编辑和作者的比例较大与更多的女性参与者有关。女性作者评估了相同数量的女性和男性参与者，而男性作者则较少包括女性。通过缩小作者和编辑委员会成员中的性别差距，可以实现女性参与者的公平代表性。
