Gender Representation in Authorship of Original Research Publications in Medical Student Journals

Despite the increasing proportion of female medical students globally, women remain a minority of authors in mainstream medical journals. Whether similar differences in gender representation extend to medical student journals (MSJs) remains unknown. In this bibliometric analysis, we explored female author representation in student-authored original research articles published in MSJs over the past decade.

Using a standardized search strategy, we identified English-language MSJs that are currently active and have been continuously operating for ≥10 years. We used a hierarchical approach to determine the likely gender of authors. We analyzed all student-authored original research articles published in the first issue in the years 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 to determine trends in authorship demographics and publication volume.

Seven out of 23 MSJs met the inclusion criteria with a median operation of 21 years (mean 34.9, range 15-102). Students contributed 79.2% (n = 57/72) of original articles (median 7, range 4-23; 50-100% of total articles per journal). Students were significantly more likely than non-students to be first authors (91.2%, p < 0.001). For all MSJs combined, women comprised 50.5% of authors, 56.1% (95% CI: 43.3-68.2%) of first authors, and 47.4% (95% CI: 35.0-60.1%) of last authors, neither of which differed significantly from equal representation of women and men. The proportion of first (p = 0.31) and last (p = 0.78) authors who were women did not change over time.

Gender representation among MSJ authors did not differ significantly from equal representation for student and first authors, while women made up a smaller share of non-student and last authors - a pattern that more closely resembles the gender differences reported in mainstream medical journals. The smaller gap may reflect either a true narrowing of these differences over time or a cohort effect, whereby current faculty entered academic medicine when women were less well-represented. Future research should further characterize gender representation in MSJ authorship and identify strategies to support continued progress.