Representation of female authorship among American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons meetings from 2008 to 2022

Women have historically been underrepresented in orthopedic surgery, which has impacted overall recruitment and the field's ability for continued growth. The purpose of this study is to assess the representation of female authorship among abstracts presented at American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) annual meetings.

Program agenda documents from 2008 to 2022 ASES annual (closed, member-only) meetings were evaluated. Information from the first, second, and last abstract authors was obtained, including sex, academic degrees, and ASES membership status. Member directories were utilized to assess female representation at the societal level. The academic influence of each respective author was characterized through a bibliometric tool known as the h-index.

A total of 1,753 authors were associated with abstracts presented at the ASES annual meetings, including 150 female (8.6%), 1,569 male (89.5%), and 34 (1.9%) unknown-sex authors. Females were significantly more likely to be listed as second author (78/150, 52.0%), as opposed to first (51/150, 34.0%) or last author (21/150, 14.0%, P < .001). There was a gradual increase in female representation at the societal level from 2007 (6/290, 2.1%), to 2019 (53/1,000, 5.3%), and 2024 (81/1,084, 7.5%). Male authors were found to have significantly higher average number of published documents (P = < .001), citations (P = < .001), and h-index (P = < .001) compared to female authors.

The evaluation of sex-based authorship is one objective measure to assess the involvement of women at annual societal conferences. Our analysis demonstrates female representation at the society level has steadily increased during the study period. Females were more likely to be listed as second authors, as opposed to the first or last author positions. Efforts within orthopedic societies to increase female recruitment and authorship are pivotal to advancing member diversity at the societal level.