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Sex differences in authorship in cardiothoracic surgery during the early coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Lina A Elfaki1, Jessica G Y Luc2, Mara B Antonoff3

  • 1Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, Toronto General Hospital and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

JTCVS Open
|June 6, 2022
PubMed

Insights

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced female authorship in cardiothoracic surgery journals, particularly for original research. This study highlights potential worsening sex disparities in academic productivity during the pandemic.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiothoracic Surgery
  • Academic Medicine
  • Gender Studies

Background:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered academic and clinical responsibilities in cardiothoracic (CT) surgery.
  • Preexisting sex disparities in academic CT surgery may have been exacerbated by the pandemic's impact.
  • Understanding these changes is crucial for addressing gender equity in the field.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess sex differences in authorship in two major cardiothoracic surgery journals during the early COVID-19 pandemic.
  • To investigate if the pandemic disproportionately affected female academic CT surgeons' contributions.
  • To analyze changes in article types authored by male and female surgeons.

Main Methods:

  • A review of all accepted submissions to *The Annals of Thoracic Surgery* and *The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery* from April-August 2019 and April-August 2020.
  • Author sex was predicted using the Genderize.io database and verified through professional profiles.
  • Article types and author characteristics were systematically collected.

Main Results:

  • A 18.6% decrease in accepted articles was observed in 2020 compared to 2019.
  • Original research articles decreased significantly in 2020 (4.9%) compared to 2019 (33.3%).
  • Female authors' contributions decreased from 39.3% in 2019 to 29.4% in 2020, with a notable drop in original research authorship.

Conclusions:

  • The early COVID-19 pandemic altered article acceptance and authorship demographics in CT surgery journals.
  • A decline in female-authored articles, especially original research, was observed.
  • Further research is needed to determine the long-term effects on sex disparities in academic productivity.
Abstract

Keywords:
Ann Thor Surg, The Annals of Thoracic SurgeryCOVID-19COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019CT, cardiothoracicJTCVS, The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgerydiversityequityscholarshipwomen in surgery

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