Representation of female authors in oncology: the Indian perspective

Despite an increasing number of female oncologists, disparities persist in authorship representation of women, especially in high-impact journals.

This study aimed to investigate gender differences in authorship within select high-impact Indian oncology journals over a 5-year period, assessing trends in the gender gap.

Six high-impact Indian oncology journals were selected for analysis. Data on original articles, reviews and editorials published between 2017 and 2022 were collected, including authors' gender, their role as first author or corresponding author and name of the journal. Gender determination was validated through web searches. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data and to study the prevalence of female authorship across journals.

A total of 2,235 articles were included. Across all journals, 30.4% of authors were female, with Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment exhibiting the highest proportion of female authors (948/2,507; 37.8%). Female authorship increased over time, with first authors rising from 33% to 41%, and corresponding authors from 29.4% to 36.4%. However, disparities persisted, and certain journals exhibited fluctuating trends. Female authorship was higher in original articles (30.9%) compared to reviews (27.8%) and editorials (24.5%). Women comprised 3.5%-24.4% of the editorial boards of the six journals.

Female representation, both as authors and editorial board members of Indian oncology journals is disproportionately low. Proactive measures are necessary to address these disparities and promote gender equity in academic publishing.