Scholarly Output in Peruvian National Dentistry according to Gender Disparity: A 10-Year Bibliometric Study

To evaluate Peruvian scientific publications in dentistry according to sex disparity (2011-2020).

This was a retrospective bibliometric study. The unit of analysis was made up of Peruvian dentistry publications indexed in the Scopus database during the last 10 years. Records with metadata (410) corresponding to the period 2011-2020 were downloaded and standardized and refined by analyzing the metadata. The search strategy was developed based on the individual profiles of each Peruvian institution that has a dental school or college. It was evaluated according to the AF-ID of each institution in the Scopus database. In addition, the information provided by the Scopus SciVal tool was used. Finally, publications, impact, and collaboration indicators were used, such as total number per document, per author, average of citations, h-index, collaboration rate, number of institutions, the Source Normalized Impact per Paper indicator, the CiteScore, and the Scopus Field-Weighted Citation Impact.

The greatest increase was evident in 2018, with 2019 and 2020 being the maximum peak of scientific publication growth. However, sustained growth has not been evidenced in relation to the female sex. The analysis of coauthorship by the authors revealed four large clusters, of which the first three were represented by male researchers, such as Arriola-Guillen L., Mayta-Tovalino F., and Mendoza-Azpur G., and one by a female, Guerrero María E. Evaluating the national scientific publication in dentistry according to the CiteScore, it was found that most of the publications (145) from Peru were published in Q4 journals, although 90 manuscripts were published in Q1 journals.

The Peruvian national dental publication in the last 10 years was mainly supported by male dentists, which invites us to reflect on the need to equalize opportunities so that female researchers can also reduce these gaps.