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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Academic Ophthalmology 2023; 15(01): e16-e23
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1760833
Research Article

Effect of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Authorship Gender Disparities in the Ophthalmology Literature

Meghana Kalavar
1   Havener Eye Institute, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio
,
Arjun Watane
2   Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
,
Prashanth Iyer
3   Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
,
Kara M. Cavuoto
3   Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
,
Julia A. Haller
4   Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
,
Jayanth Sridhar
3   Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
› Author Affiliations Financial Support Bascom Palmer Eye Institute received funding from the NIH Core Grant P30EY014801, Department of Defense Grant #W81XWH-13–1-0048, and a Research to Prevent Blindness Unrestricted Grant. The sponsors or funding organizations had no role in the design or conduct of this research.
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Abstract

Background Studies in several fields of medicine have found that women published less during the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially due to an increase in domestic responsibilities. This study examines whether a similar pattern exists for female authorship in ophthalmology.

Purpose To compare the proportions of female authorship published in high-impact ophthalmology journals before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods A cross-sectional study analyzing authorship gender of articles published during the COVID-19 pandemic (between July and September 2020) compared with matched articles published in the same journals before the COVID-19 pandemic (between July and September 2019). Gender of the first and last authors was analyzed using an online gender determination tool.

Results A total of 577 articles and 1,113 authors were analyzed. There was no significant difference in the average number of publications by male and female authors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a significant increase in the percentage of female first authorship from the prepandemic period (32%) to during the COVID-19 pandemic (40%; p = 0.01), but no significant increase in the last authorship (p > 0.05). When analyzing only research articles, a similar increase in female first authorship was noted when comparing the publications before (31%) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (43%; p = 0.02). No significant differences were noted when analyzing the editorials (p > 0.05).

Conclusion While disparities continue to exist between male and female authorship, an increase in female first authorship was noted during the COVID-19 pandemic for overall articles as well as research articles.

Precis During the COVID-19 pandemic, female authorship as first and last authors of peer-reviewed articles in high-impact ophthalmology journals was below 50%. However, while the overall rates of female authorship were unchanged, female first authorship significantly increased during the pandemic. These results differ from studies published in other medical fields that demonstrated a decrease in female authorship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

publications - gender disparities - authorship - COVID-19


Publication History

Received: 21 April 2022

Accepted: 21 November 2022

Article published online:
17 January 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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