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A retrospective analysis of gender parity in scientific authorship in a biomedical research centre

View ORCID ProfileRinita Dam, View ORCID ProfileSyed Ghulam Sarwar Shah, Maria Julia Milano, Laurel D Edmunds, View ORCID ProfileLorna R Henderson, Catherine R Hartley, Owen Coxall, View ORCID ProfilePavel V Ovseiko, View ORCID ProfileAlastair M Buchan, Vasiliki Kiparoglou
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.24.962175
Rinita Dam
1Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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  • For correspondence: rinita.dam@rdm.ox.ac.uk
Syed Ghulam Sarwar Shah
1Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
2National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom
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  • For correspondence: rinita.dam@rdm.ox.ac.uk
Maria Julia Milano
1Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Laurel D Edmunds
1Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Lorna R Henderson
1Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
2National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Catherine R Hartley
3Bodleian Health Care Libraries, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Owen Coxall
3Bodleian Health Care Libraries, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Pavel V Ovseiko
1Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Alastair M Buchan
1Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Vasiliki Kiparoglou
2National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom
4Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences University of Oxford, Oxford
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ABSTRACT

Objective Scientific authorship is a vital marker of success in academic careers and gender equity is a key performance metric in research. However, there is little understanding of gender equity in publications in biomedical research centres funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). This study assesses the gender parity in scientific authorship of biomedical research.

Design A retrospective descriptive study.

Setting NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.

Data 2409 publications accepted or published from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2017.

Main outcome measures Gender of authors, defined as a binary variable comprising either male or female categories, in six authorship categories: first author, joint first authors, first corresponding author, joint corresponding authors, last author and joint last authors.

Results Publications comprised clinical research (39%, n=939), basic research (27%, n=643), and other types of research (34%, n=827). The proportion of female authors as first author (41%), first corresponding authors (34%) and last author (23%) was statistically significantly lower than male authors in these authorship categories. Of total joint first authors (n=458), joint corresponding authors (n=169), and joint last authors (n=229), female only authors comprised statistically significant smaller proportions i.e. 15% (n=69), 29% (n=49) and 10% (n=23) respectively, compared to male only authors in these joint authorship categories. There was a statistically significant association between gender of the last author(s) with gender of the first author(s) (χ 2 33.742, P < 0.001), corresponding author(s) (χ2 540.774, P < 0.001) and joint last author(s) (χ 2 91.291, P < 0.001).

Conclusions Although there are increasing trends of female authors as first authors (41%) and last authors (23%), female authors are underrepresented compared to male authors in all six categories of scientific authorship in biomedical research. Further research is needed to encourage gender parity in different categories of scientific authorship.

Strengths and limitations of this study

  • This is the first study to investigate gender parity in six categories of scientific authorship: first authors, first corresponding authors, last authors and three joint authorship categories i.e. joint first authors, joint corresponding authors and joint last authors in biomedical research.

  • This study provides an important benchmark on gender equity in scientific authorship for other NIHR funded centres and organisations in England.

  • The generalisability of the findings of this study may be limited due to differences in medical specialities, research areas, institutional cultures, and levels of support to individual researchers.

  • Using secondary sources for determining the gender of authors may have limitations, which could be avoided by seeking relevant information from original authors and institution affiliation at the time of submission.

Footnotes

  • Sarwar.Shah{at}ouh.nhs.uk, colomilano{at}gmail.com, laureledmunds{at}gmail.com, lorna.henderson{at}ouh.nhs.uk, Catherine.hartley{at}bodleian.ox.ac.uk, owen.coxall{at}bodleian.ox.ac.uk, pavel.ovseiko{at}rdm.ox.ac.uk, alastair.buchan{at}medsci.ox.ac.uk, vasiliki.kiparoglou{at}ouh.nhs.uk

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted February 25, 2020.
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A retrospective analysis of gender parity in scientific authorship in a biomedical research centre
Rinita Dam, Syed Ghulam Sarwar Shah, Maria Julia Milano, Laurel D Edmunds, Lorna R Henderson, Catherine R Hartley, Owen Coxall, Pavel V Ovseiko, Alastair M Buchan, Vasiliki Kiparoglou
bioRxiv 2020.02.24.962175; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.24.962175
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A retrospective analysis of gender parity in scientific authorship in a biomedical research centre
Rinita Dam, Syed Ghulam Sarwar Shah, Maria Julia Milano, Laurel D Edmunds, Lorna R Henderson, Catherine R Hartley, Owen Coxall, Pavel V Ovseiko, Alastair M Buchan, Vasiliki Kiparoglou
bioRxiv 2020.02.24.962175; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.24.962175

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