The Social Network of Otolaryngology: Collaborative Publishing Relationships by Gender

This study aims to evaluate if gender differences exist in social connectedness (betweenness centrality) and professional impact (h-indices) within Otolaryngology when controlling for variables such as academic rank, subspecialty, and geographic region.

Physician faculty (n = 2494) from 129 US ACGME accredited otolaryngology programs were identified. Characteristics included gender, academic rank, sub-specialty, and SCOPUS IDs. The co-authorship network was visualized and consisted of 2265 physicians (nodes) connected by 28,408 collaborative relationships (edges). The professional connectedness of physicians was calculated using betweenness centrality (BWC), which quantifies how frequently a physician node appears on the shortest path between two other nodes. Analysis employed ordinal regression fitting semiparametric multivariable cumulative probability models.

Among 2265 faculty physicians identified, 69% were male, 26% were female, and 5% were unknown. Female faculty had lower h-index and BWC scores compared to their male colleagues. When controlling for subspecialty and region, male and female assistant professors did not show evidence of a difference in BWC scores (odds ratio (OR) = 0.96, p = 0.80). However, among associate and full professors, males tended to have higher BWC compared to female counterparts (OR = 1.47, p = 0.0086 for associate and OR = 2.05, p < 0.0001 for full professors).

Analysis of our co-authorship network showed that current male and female Otolaryngology faculty have equivalent academic impact and professional connectedness at lower academic ranks but diverge at higher ranks. These findings suggest that increased efforts to support female academic development at the mid-career level may reduce the observed gender disparities at higher academic ranks.

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