Background/Purpose: In academic medicine, journal article authorship is central to career advancement and promotion. This study aimed to examine the contemporary representation of women as first and senior authors of rheumatology-related original research articles.

Methods: The gender of first and senior author, disease category, research design and funding source were extracted from rheumatology original research articles published in high impact rheumatology and general medical journals between 2015 and 2019.  

Results: 7,651 original research articles were included in the analysis. In total, there were 51.5% [95% CI 50.4%, 52.6%] articles with women first authors and 35.3% [95% CI 34.2%, 36.4%] with women senior authors.  Women were significantly less likely to be first and senior authors of articles reporting randomized controlled trials compared with other clinical research designs (P< 0.001), and of articles reporting industry-funded/industry-initiated studies compared with studies not funded by industry (P≤0.01).  For articles reporting industry-funded/industry-initiated randomized controlled trials, women were first authors in 18.5% [95% CI 13.8%, 24.0%] and senior authors in 23.9% [95% CI 18.6%, 29.8%].

Conclusion: In rheumatology journal articles, there is gender parity for first authorship, but women are under-represented in senior authorship positions. Under-representation of women in authorship is particularly apparent in articles reporting randomized controlled trials, especially those that are initiated by industry.

« Back to ACR Convergence 2020

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/representation-of-women-as-authors-of-rheumatology-research-articles/