Increased female authorship in otolaryngology over the past three decades

To identify changing trends in female authorship and publication in the otolaryngology literature.

All articles published in the four major otolaryngology journals in each of the years 1978, 1988, and 1998 were reviewed. The authorship panel of each article was examined for number of authors, gender, educational degree category, and subspecialty area of publication. Data were analyzed for trends in female authorship and the association of gender with the other design variables.

A total of 2,463 articles were analyzed. The average percentage of female authorship increased from 4.1% in 1978 to 8.7% in 1988 and 12.4% in 1998, and the percentage of articles with a female "first author" increased from 3.2% to 7.4% and 11.4% for the same years, respectively. Each of these increases was statistically significant (P < .001). The weighted rank of female authorship also increased from 0.063 to 0.164 and 0.243 for the same years, respectively (P < .001). With respect to subspecialty publication, women were first authors of 14.7% of articles concerning pediatric otolaryngology but accounted for 9.9% or less of the first authors in the other subspecialty areas (P < .001). Female authors were also much more likely to be nonphysicians (P < .001) than men.

There has been a significant trend toward increased female authorship in the otolaryngology literature. A significant portion of this is accounted for by nonphysician female authors, and female authorship tends to be concentrated in pediatric otolaryngology.