Female Authors in Nuclear Medicine Journals: A Survey from 2014 to 2020

Despite the feminization of the medical workforce, women do not have the same career perspectives as men. In nuclear medicine, little information is available on the sex gap regarding prominent author positions in scientific articles. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate recent trends in the sex distribution of first and last authorship of articles published in nuclear medicine journals. Methods: We conducted a bibliometric analysis of first and last author sex of articles published from 2014 to 2020 in 15 nuclear medicine journals. Manuscript title, article type, journal impact factor, date of publication, and first and last name and country of provenance of first and last authors were noted. The Gender API software was used to determine author sex. All statistics were descriptive. Results: Women represented 32.8% of first authors and 19.6% of last authors. Female authorship increased from 28.2% (428 of 1,518 articles) in 2014 to 35.5% (735 of 2,069 articles; relative increase, 72%) in 2020 (P < 0.001) for first authors and from 15.6% (237 of 1,518 articles) in 2014 to 20.5% (424 of 2,069 articles; relative increase, 79%) in 2020 (P < 0.001) for last authors. Parity was forecast for 2035 for first authors and 2052 for last authors. Female authorship increased in Europe for first authors (P = 0.014) and last authors (P < 0.001), in high-ranking journals for first authors (P = 0.004) and last authors (P < 0.001), and in other journal ranks for last authors (P = 0.01). Female first and last authorship rose for original articles (P = 0.02 and P = 0.01, respectively) and case reports (P < 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively). Regarding collaborations, the proportion of articles produced by male first and last authors decreased from 62.2% in 2014 to 52.9% in 2020 in favor of female first and last authors (odds ratio, 1.07; P < 0.001), male first and female last authors (odds ratio, 1.05; P < 0.001), and female first and male last authors (odds ratio, 1.03; P < 0.001). Conclusion: Female first and last authorship in nuclear medicine journals increased substantially from 2014 to 2020, in particular in high-ranking journals, in Europe, and for original articles and case reports. Male-to-male collaborations decreased by 10% in favor of all other collaborations. Parity can be foreseen in a few decades.