Are Women Publishing More Now Than Ever?

Over recent decades, ever-greater numbers of women have entered the medical profession. A group of researchers in the US and Mexico decided to determine if that has filtered through into the literature, comparing the authorship gender balance of publications in three high-impact ophthalmology journals over two time periods, a decade apart: 2000, and 2010.

Here's what they did...

Three journals assessed: Ophthalmology, Am. J. Ophthalmol., and JAMA Ophthalmology Excluded
• Single case reports Reviewed
Original articles
• Clinical and laboratory sciences
• Short series
• Meta-analyses
• Editorials
For 2000 and 2010, starting from Jan 1st, review ≥ 100 articles Assess authors’ gender via web searches + e-mailing authors 12 excluded – no gender data

And the results...

References

1. 1. V. Franco-Cardenas, J. Rosenberg, A. Ramirez et al., “Decadelong Profile of Women in Ophthalmic Publications”, JAMA Ophthalmol. Epub ahead of print (2014). doi: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2014.4447

About the Author(s)

Mark Hillen

I spent seven years as a medical writer, writing primary and review manuscripts, congress presentations and marketing materials for numerous – and mostly German – pharmaceutical companies. Prior to my adventures in medical communications, I was a Wellcome Trust PhD student at the University of Edinburgh.

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