Gender Parity in CERA Survey Submissions.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Academic Medicine
• Health Professions Education

Background:

• The Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) facilitates educational research in family medicine through omnibus surveys.
• CERA surveys gather input from various stakeholders, including residency program directors and department chairs.
• Module proposals are peer-reviewed before inclusion in the omnibus survey.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the gender of the primary submitter influences the acceptance rate of survey modules submitted to CERA.
• To assess the impact of gender on the success of educational research proposals in academic family medicine.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis was used to examine author characteristics and dissemination.
• Chi-squared (ꭓ2) analyses were conducted to compare gender differences in proposal acceptance rates.
• The exact binomial test compared the proportion of women authors to the benchmark proportion within the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM).

Main Results:

• Women submitted 66% of CERA survey module proposals and authored 65% of accepted modules.
• Module acceptance rates did not significantly differ by gender (χ2=0.07, P=.80).
• Scholarly output (presentations/publications) was similar for authors of accepted modules regardless of gender (χ2=0.70, P=.41).

Conclusions:

• The CERA module submission process demonstrates gender equity in acceptance rates.
• The CERA model effectively supports early-career educational researchers, including women.
• Other medical specialties can consider similar models to foster research inclusivity.