Gender differences in the authorship of Global Major Gastroenterology Society Guidelines

Gender differences remain a serious issue in the gastroenterology field, which negatively affect the career success and academic advancement of female gastroenterologists. In this study, we aim to identify gender differences in the authors of global major Gastroenterology Society guidelines.

We included six associations and collected guidelines published between 2003 and 2022. The genders of authors were determined and recorded for each guideline. Linear by linear association test was used to assess trends every 5 years.

We included 210 guidelines and 461 authors. The proportion of female first and senior authors was 11.3% and 9.8%, respectively. The number of female first and senior authors in most societies has improved over the past 20 years, with the largest increase in the AGA.

Women are still underrepresented among the authors of guidelines. Although gender differences have gained more attention in recent years, there are many obstacles to achieving gender equality.