Cross sectional study.
Nine specialist and two large general medical journals.
Authors of research manuscripts submitted between 1 January 2018 and 31 May 2021.
Primary outcome: first author\'s gender.
last and corresponding authors\' gender; number (percentage) of women on authorship byline in \"pre-pandemic\" period (1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019) and in \"covid-19\" and \"non-covid-19\" manuscripts during pandemic.
A total of 63 259 manuscripts were included. The number of female first, last, and corresponding authors respectively were 1313 (37.1%), 996 (27.9%), and 1119 (31.1%) for covid-19 manuscripts (lowest values in Jan-May 2020: 230 (29.4%), 165 (21.1%), and 185 (22.9%)), compared with 8583 (44.9%), 6118 (31.2%), and 7273 (37.3%) for pandemic non-covid-19 manuscripts and 12 724 (46.0%), 8923 (31.4%), and 10 981 (38.9%) for pre-pandemic manuscripts. The adjusted odds ratio of having a female first author in covid-19 manuscripts was <1.00 in all groups (P<0.001) compared with pre-pandemic (lowest in Jan-May 2020: 0.55, 98.75% confidence interval 0.43 to 0.70). The adjusted odds ratio of having a woman as last or corresponding author was significantly lower for covid-19 manuscripts in all time periods (except for the two most recent periods for last author) compared with pre-pandemic (lowest values in Jan-May 2020: 0.74 (0.57 to 0.97) for last and 0.61 (0.49 to 0.77) for corresponding author). The odds ratios for pandemic non-covid-19 manuscripts were not significantly different compared with pre-pandemic manuscripts. The median percentage of female authors on the byline was lower for covid-19 manuscripts (28.6% in Jan-May 2020) compared with pre-pandemic (36.4%) and non-covid-19 pandemic manuscripts (33.3% in Jan-May 2020). Gender disparities in all prominent authorship positions and the proportion of women authors on the byline narrowed in the most recent period (Feb-May 2021) compared with the early pandemic period (Jan-May 2020) and were very similar to values observed for pre-pandemic manuscripts.
Women have been underrepresented as co-authors and in prominent authorship positions in covid-19 research, and this gender disparity needs to be corrected by those involved in academic promotion and awarding of research grants. Women attained some prominent authorship positions equally or more frequently than before the pandemic on non-covid-19 related manuscripts submitted at some time points during the pandemic.
横断面研究。
九种专家和两种大型普通医学期刊。
在2018年1月1日至2021年5月31日之间提交的研究手稿的作者。
主要结果:第一作者的性别。
最后一位作者和相应作者的性别;“大流行前”期间(2018年1月1日至2019年12月31日)和“covid-19”和“non-covid-19”手稿中作者署名的女性人数(百分比)。
共包括63259份手稿。女性人数第一,最后,通讯作者分别为1313(37.1%),996(27.9%),和1119(31.1%)的covid-19手稿(2020年1月至5月的最低值:230(29.4%),165(21.1%),和185(22.9%),与8583(44.9%)相比,6118(31.2%),和7273(37.3%)的大流行非covid-19手稿和12724(46.0%),8923(31.4%),大流行前手稿为10981份(38.9%)。与大流行前(2020年1月至5月最低:0.55,98.75%置信区间0.43至0.70)相比,所有组的Covid-19手稿中有女性第一作者的调整后优势比<1.00(P<0.001)。与大流行前(2020年1月至5月的最低值:最后一位作者的0.74(0.57至0.97)和0.61(0.49至0.77))相比,Covid-19手稿在所有时间段(最后一位作者的最近两个时间段除外)的调整后优势比显著较低。与大流行前的手稿相比,大流行的非covid-19手稿的优势比没有显着差异。与大流行前(36.4%)和非covid-19大流行手稿(2020年1月至5月为33.3%)相比,covid-19手稿的女性作者比例中位数较低(2020年1月至5月为33.3%)。与大流行早期(2020年1月至5月)相比,最近一段时间(2021年2月至5月),所有重要作者职位的性别差异和署名中女性作者的比例缩小,与大流行前手稿观察到的值非常相似。
在covid-19研究中,女性作为合著者和重要作者职位的代表性不足,参与学术推广和授予研究补助金的人员需要纠正这种性别差异。在大流行期间的某些时间点提交的非covid-19相关手稿上,与大流行之前相比,妇女获得了一些重要的作者职位。