First Authors in Deutsches Ärzteblatt

Abstract

Emilie Lehmus, the first German woman to study medicine, would never have imagined it possible: almost 140 years after beginning her medical studies in Zurich because she had not been allowed to enroll in German universities (1), six out of ten of those pursuing a degree in human medicine in Germany are women. In fact, this figure was even higher last winter semester, with women accounting for a full 64% of those beginning medical studies. A cover story in March 2008 in Deutsches Arzteblatt summed up the trend in its title: Die Medizin wird weiblich (Medicine is becoming feminized) (2). This observation applies not only to medical students, but also to physicians – both in Germany and worldwide. The growing proportion of women working at all levels of the medical profession deserves greater attention for a variety of reasons, including the real or perceived cultural transformation of medical practice through feminization (3), or the fear of income disparity and devaluation of the profession (4, 5). Yet other authors address issues related to balancing work and family (2, 6). In this editorial, I will be discussing another important question related to this topic: what percentage of scientific authors in medical journals, and in Deutsches Arzteblatt in particular, are women?