Gender inequalities among authors who contributed equally

Area of Science:

• Bibliometrics
• Gender Studies in Science
• Scholarly Communication

Background:

• Shared first authorship is increasingly common in scientific publications.
• Understanding author order and its implications for credit attribution is crucial.
• Previous research has explored gender dynamics in academia, but authorship order in equal contribution scenarios requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze gender distribution in first authorship among papers with equally contributing authors.
• To identify trends in author order based on gender combinations over time.
• To assess whether observed author ordering aligns with random or alphabetical distribution.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 2898 scientific papers published between 1995 and 2017.
• Categorization of papers based on the number of equally contributing first authors (two or more).
• Examination of gender composition (male-male, female-female, mixed-gender) and position within author lists.

Main Results:

• Mixed-gender first author combinations were most frequent when two authors shared equal contributions, followed by male-male, then female-female.
• In mixed-gender pairs, males more often occupied the first position, though this disparity lessened over time.
• For three or more equally contributing authors, male authors were more prevalent in the first position, with all-male combinations outnumbering all-female ones.

Conclusions:

• Observed gender inequalities in first authorship among equally contributing authors are not random or alphabetical.
• Findings raise concerns about female authors potentially not receiving adequate credit for their contributions.
• A need exists for journals to implement clearer guidelines for determining author order when multiple authors contribute equally.