Abstract
Publication and authorship are important in academia for career advancement, obtaining grants, and improved patient care. There has been a recent interest in bibliometric changes over time, especially regarding the gender gap. The purpose of this study was to explore bibliometric changes in the musculoskeletal literature. Bibliometric variables (number of authors, institutions, countries, pages, references, corresponding author position, author gender, geographic region of origin, and editorial board makeup) were analyzed for 5 basic science and 12 clinically oriented musculoskeletal journals from 1985 through 2016. Statistical analyses comprised bivariate analyses, multifactorial ANOVAs, and logistic regression analyses. A p < 0.005 was considered significant. Nearly, all variables increased over time. Asia had the highest number of authors and corresponding author positions, Australia/New Zealand the highest number of institutions and references, North America the highest number of pages, and Europe the highest number of countries. Those with a female first author had more authors, institutions, countries, references, and pages. Likewise, those with a female corresponding author had more authors, institutions, countries, references, and pages. Single-authored manuscripts decreased over time. The percentage of female first authors rose from 10.8% in 1985–1987 to 23.7% in 2015–2016. There were more female 1st authors in the basic science journals compared to the clinical journals (33.2% vs. 12.7%). Single-authored manuscripts were more likely to be written by males (5.1 vs. 2.4%) and decreased over time. The many differences by geographic region of origin likely reflect different socio/cultural attitudes regarding academia and research, as well as the gender composition of the disciplines by geographic region. Overall, there has been an increase in the number of female 1st and corresponding authors, editorial board members, and chief editors, indicating a slow but progressive narrowing of the gender gap.
Highlights
Singleauthored manuscripts decreased over time. e percentage of female first authors rose from 10.8% in 1985–1987 to 23.7% in 2015–2016. ere were more female 1st authors in the basic science journals compared to the clinical journals (33.2% vs. 12.7%)
We made a conscious decision to not include physical medicine or rheumatology journals as our research group is within the department of orthopaedic surgery, with both clinical and basic science sections. e journals were grouped into two major types: primarily basic science or clinical, acknowledging that there are often overlaps between these areas for all journals. e basic science group consisted of Annals of Biomedical Engineering (ABME), Bone, Calcified Tissue International (CTI), Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (JBMR), and Journal of Orthopaedic Research (JOR); the remainder comprised the clinical group
Assuming that there should be an adjustment, one method of correction is that of Holm [90]. e Holm correction for these 350 analyses gives a p < 0.0005 of being statistically significant. is is extremely conservative, and we suggest that for our type of study such a limit will exclude important information. is is not a clinical trial looking at outcome measures [87]
Summary
Bibliometric variables (number of authors, institutions, countries, pages, references, corresponding author position, author gender, geographic region of origin, and editorial board makeup) were analyzed for 5 basic science and 12 clinically oriented musculoskeletal journals from 1985 through 2016. Is is in spite of a recent study noting that University academic departments wishing to hire a new STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) tenure-track faculty at the assistant professor level [50] demonstrated a 2 : 1 preference for female applicants. This aspiration does not currently match the reality. For example, in 2016, 20.9% of bachelor’s degrees (BS) and 23.3% of doctoral degrees were awarded to women [51]; 16.0% of academic faculty positions were occupied by women
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