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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1450475
This article is part of the Research Topic Intersectional Disparities in Access to Cancer Clinical Trials and Survivorship View all articles

A 20-Year Analysis of Gender Trends in Oncology Authorship in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Health System, Miami, United States
  • 2 Department of Medical Education, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States
  • 3 Department of Health Informatics, Louis Calder Memorial Library, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, United States
  • 4 School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
  • 5 Department of Public Health Sciences, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States
  • 6 Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States
  • 7 Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, United States
  • 8 Department of Pediatrics, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The objective of this study was to evaluate global longitudinal publication trends in oncology in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) from 2001-2020.Design: Retrospective bibliometric analysis.Primary and secondary outcome measures: The primary outcome measures were the numbers and percentages of women as first, last, and corresponding author across all CDSR oncology publications. Additional outcomes included authorship differences between countries and percentages of women authors over time compared using the Cochran-Armitage trend test.Results: In total, 548 articles were analyzed. Women were first authors in 52.26% (n=277) and corresponding authors in 50.75% (n=272), respectively. Women represented only 39.4% (n=210) of last authors, significantly less frequent than male counterparts (p < 0.001). The percentage of women last and corresponding authors has increased significantly in the past 20 years (p < 0.05). Countries such as the Netherlands and Australia consistently showed equitable representation in first, corresponding, and last authorship, while other countries such as Italy and China had uniformly low rates of female authorship.Our results highlight patterns of gender inequity in oncology publication authorship in the CDSR from 2001-2020 at a global level. Notably, women were less likely to serve in the last author position which, independent of assigned corresponding authorship, is generally assumed in academic oncology to designate the leader of a published study. Substantive efforts to correct this disparity are needed to achieve gender parity in publicly perceived leadership in oncology publications.

    Keywords: gender inequity, Academic medicine, oncology, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Women in medicine, Authorship

    Received: 23 Jul 2024; Accepted: 27 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Levy, Samarakoon, Smith, Goo, Duthely, Van Zuilen, Huang and Pillai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Caleigh Smith, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 22903, Virginia, United States
    Irene Goo, Department of Medical Education, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, 33136, Florida, United States
    Marilyn Huang, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Health System, Miami, United States
    Asha B. Pillai, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Health System, Miami, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.