New analysis in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology notes an increase in the proportion of female senior and first authors in cardiology literature.
“In both the United States and the United Kingdom, cardiology continues to have the lowest proportion of women among all specialties,” wrote lead author Mariam Asghar, MBBS, of the Dow University of Health Sciences in Pakistan, and colleagues. “Over the years, the proportion of female physicians and trainees in cardiology has increased, but it remains unknown whether the presence of women in the academic cardiology literature is growing at the same rate.”
The researchers sought to determine the amount of women who were first or senior authors over a two-decade period. They specifically looked at articles published in 1996, 2006 and 2016, reviewed more than 11,000 articles in six journals—the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), European Heart Journal (EHJ), Circulation, American Journal of Cardiology (AJC), BMJ Heart (Heart) and Clinical Cardiology (CC).
Asghar and colleagues found almost 17 percent of first authors and 9 percent of senior authors were female. When they analyzed authorships over the 20-year period, they found female first authors increased by 10 percent, and female senior authors increased by 7 percent.
“All six journals consistently showed a significant upward trend in female first authorship, but the magnitude of change in each journal differed,” the authors wrote. “Similarly, all journals showed a significant upward trend in the proportion of female senior authorship, except for EHJ, which showed a decrease after 2006.”
Articles from both the U.S. and the UK showed upward trends in female first authorship with increases of 10 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Additionally, female senior authorship also increased by 7 percent in the U.S. and 8 percent in the U.K.
Women represent approximately 17 percent of academic radiologists. The proportion of female first authors remained lower than overall academic medicine, radiology, ophthalmology and emergency medicine literature, with women more underrepresented in senior authorships.
The researchers determined many of the first and senior authors are or were likely to be under the instruction of a female mentor who may influence or encourage them to participate in cardiology research. Additionally, published, research from female-led teams garnered more citations.
“The overall trends are positive, and the increasing involvement of women in the field of cardiology will play a key role in helping reach gender parity in authorship of cardiology literature,” Asghar et al. wrote. “Concomitantly, the inherent and unconscious gender bias prevalent within the medical community must be addressed to help achieve this goal.”
As a senior news writer for TriMed, Subrata covers cardiology, clinical innovation and healthcare business. She has a master’s degree in communication management and 12 years of experience in journalism and public relations.