Number Of Women Authors Research Articles

Underrepresentation of Women Participants in Exercise Science and Physiology Research is Associated with Authorship: A Historical Perspective

The historically low representation of women as participants in exercise science and physiology research has led to a lack of understanding in the response of women to exercise and other therapeutic interventions. We hypothesize (1) the number of women authors and participants will increase over the last 30 years, and (2) a larger representation of women authors will be associated with an increase in the number of women participants. METHODS: Original research articles (n = 971) were analyzed from three journals (Journal of Applied Physiology, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, and British Journal of Sports Medicine) in 1991 and 2021. These journals were chosen based on the following inclusion criteria: consistently ranked in the top 15 exercise science and physiology research journals, impact factor >3.5, ≥50 years of publications, and were accessible online. Articles were chosen from the following inclusion criteria: original research and not a review, included humans and not animals and did not solely use computational models. ANOVA and modified Pearson-Filon (ZPF) were used to statistically analyze the data. Data are reported as mean ± standard deviation. RESULTS: The number (percentage) of women authors was less in 1991 than 2021 (16 ± 22% vs. 31 ± 24%, p < 0.001) as well as the number of women participants (22 ± 32% vs. 36 ± 30%, p < 0.001). The percentage of women participants were less when the last author was a man compared to when the last author was a woman in 1991 (20 ± 30% vs. 34 ± 42%, p = 0.002) and in 2021 (32 ± 28% vs. 52 ± 33%, p < 0.001). Of all studies, 51% were authored by men only in 1991, which declined to 18% in 2021. In contrast, 1.8% in 1991 and 1.1% in 2021 were authored by women only. The correlation between authorship gender (number of women/total authors ratio) and participant gender (number of women/total participants ratio) grew between 1991 and 2021 (r = 0.27 vs. r = 0.42, p = 0.020). CONCLUSION: While the number of women authors and participants increased from 1991 to 2021, these numbers do not represent the current number of women in the population (~51%). Our data shows the historical underrepresentation of woman authors influences the low number of woman participants. Specifically, women authors included participants of both genders (men and women) at equitable numbers in exercise science and physiology research in 2021. The low representation of women as participants in exercise science and physiology research could be resolved by encouraging authors who are men to research equitable numbers of each gender. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Myth, Tradition and Indian Beliefs in Shashi Deshpande's "The Dark Holds No Terrors"

Shashi Deshpande is one of India's most well-known novelists today. Women's writing in India has a shorter history than male writing, but we are seeing a rise in the number of women authors whose fiction is being recognized internationally. They have won a slew of national and international awards and grants, and it now appears that women's writing will rise to prominence shortly as they catch up to their male counterparts. While many other women authors, such as Kamla Markandaya, Nayantara Sehgal, Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, Anita Desai, Santha Rama Rao, Attia Hussain, Padmini Sen Gupta, Nargis Dala, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Gita Mehta, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, enrich Indian English Literature, Deshpande occupies a special place She is one of the few authors working today who incorporates literary allusions, myth, and mythology into her work, effortlessly blending it with earlier results. 
 Deshpande has used Indian myths, legends, and people in many novels as metaphors for events, incidents, happenings, and characters. In many of her books, she incorporates Western folktales. Shashi Deshpande's writings, especially her novel "The Dark Holds No Terrors" (1980), paint a startlingly vivid picture of Indian womanhood's inner world. For too long, it has been made to stay quiet. Deshpande's use of myth and folklore in her novels exemplifies the decolonization of the Indian literary imagination. These devices are handy to the author for illuminating the inner world of women's minds since many of her novels contain female protagonists.

Abstract 14171: Association of Women Authors With Women Enrollment in the Clinical Trials of Atrial Fibrillation

Introduction: Women with atrial fibrillation (AF) are more symptomatic, have poorer quality of life and carry a higher risk of stroke than men. Despite this woman have been underrepresented in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of AF. Hypothesis: Women representation in the author panel might influence enrollment of women in RCTs of AF. Methods: We performed a systematic literature search from 1989 through December 2019 to identify RCTs of AF with a follow-up duration of ≥3 months. The multivariate linear regression model was constructed with the proportion of women enrollment in the RCTs as the dependent variable and the proportion of women in the author panel as a key independent variable. The model was adjusted for publication year, region, sponsor, and type of RCTs (invasive or medical treatment). Results: A total of 134 RCTs (n=149,162) were included. The median number of participants per trial was 205 (IQR, 74-676). The median number of women per trial was 71 (IQR, 27-218). The overall representation of women was 35.1% (95% CI, 32.6-37.6%), which did not improve between 1989 to 2019 (from 27.3% to 29.6%; P=0.10). RCTs of AF were authored by 1,568 authors. The median number of authors per trial publication was 10 (IQR, 7-10). The median number of women authors was 1 (IQR, 0-3). First (93%) and senior (92%) authors were predominantly men. Only 13.3% (n=18) of publications had women as first or senior authors, which did not improve over time (P=0.07). Multivariate model showed that each 1% increase in women in the author panel was associated with 19% increase in women enrollment in RCTs (P=0.02) (Table). Conclusions: Women remained underrepresented both as participants and as authors of RCTs of AF. Higher representation of women in the author panel was associated with higher enrollment of women in RCTs of AF. Efforts to recruitment and retain women AF investigators may be a critical mechanism to help lessen the disparities in both areas.

Do gender-based disparities in authorship also exist in cancer palliative care? A 15-year survey of the cancer palliative care literature.

Women physicians in the United States publish less than men and advance academically at a slower pace. Do such gender-based disparities also occur in cancer palliative care, a field in which women appear to hold a strong interest? We undertook a detailed survey of the cancer palliative care literature. We selected 5 cancer palliative care journals on the basis of their high impact factors, and we assessed authorship for the years 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005. We determined gender and highest educational degree for all US first and last authors. A total of 794 authors are the focus of this report. In 2005, 50% of first authors were women, but only 14% were women physicians. Similarly, 39% of senior authors were women during this year, but only 8% were women physicians. Over this 15-year period, no statistically significant trends were detected to indicate an increase in the number of women authors. These findings are sobering. Future efforts might focus on strategies to improve rates of authorship and, ultimately, improve rates of academic promotion for women interested in cancer palliative care.

Women Authors of Surgical Research

The number of women authors in the surgical literature has increased during the past 20 years. Randomly selected issues of odd-year journals in Archives of Surgery and Annals of Surgery from January 1, 1985, to December 31, 2003, were reviewed. We determined the gender of each author and reported trends in the occurrence of women authors over time. The percentage of women authors has increased over time and parallels the percentage of women faculty in academic surgery positions. A much higher percentage of women authors than men authors are nonphysicians. The trend for increased authorship by women over time was significant in Archives of Surgery. Although the number of women first authors is low, their contributions to the field of surgery should be acknowledged, and efforts to provide women with the resources and opportunities to conduct research and publish their findings should be a focus for surgical departments looking to increase their research productivity.

Related Authorship Trends in Movement Science Journals (1991-1996)

The purpose of this paper is to answer three questions related to authorship trends in movement science journals: 1) Do movement science journals publish significant numbers of articles by women?, 2) How does the rate of publication by women in movement science journals compare to that in other fields?, and 3) Has the number of journal articles published by women in the movement sciences changed throughout 1990’s (1991-1996)? Six movement science journals were selected for inclusion in this study. Two trained investigators conducted hand searches of journals and frequency counts were performed for the total number of authors and articles, and the gender of the first through fourth authors. Percentage of women authors was ascertained using the following formula: [total number of women authors / total number of authors] × 100. Percentage of articles in which a woman made a contribution was calculated as follows: [number of articles with at least I woman author / total number of articles] × 100. Number of articles with a woman as first, second, third, or fourth author was calculated by counting individual authors and their order of authorship. The journal that published the highest percentage of women authors or articles with women contributors was the Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, followed by Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and Quest. The journals that published the largest number of articles by women were Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and The Physician and Sportsmedicine. Trends in publication by gender have not changed considerably between 1991-1996. In comparison to journals in other scientific disciplines, exercise science journals publish a comparable proportion of articles by women.