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. 2021 Dec;10(2):593-598.
doi: 10.1007/s40119-021-00234-6. Epub 2021 Jul 15.

Gender Disparities in Cardiology-Related COVID-19 Publications

Elena C Vasti  1 , David Ouyang  2 , Summer Ngo  3 , Ashish Sarraju  3 , Robert A Harrington  1 , Fatima Rodriguez  4
Affiliations

Gender Disparities in Cardiology-Related COVID-19 Publications

Elena C Vasti et al. Cardiol Ther. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Introduction: Female authors are underrepresented in cardiology journals, although prior work suggested improvement in reducing disparities over time. Early in the recent COVID-19 pandemic, female authorship continued to lag that of their male counterparts despite a surge in publications. The cumulative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on authorship gender disparities remains unclear. We aimed to characterize gender disparities in COVID-19-related cardiology publications across the duration of the ongoing pandemic.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed COVID-19-related research articles published in the top 20 impact factor cardiology journals between March and June 2021. Gender representation data were extracted for any author, first authors, and senior authors.

Results: We found that 841 articles were related to COVID-19, with a total of 5586 authors and an average of 42 articles per journal. Less than a third (29.9%) of the total authors from publications were women. Women represented a smaller proportion of first authors (21.3%) and senior authors (16.4%).

Conclusions: Female authorship has continued to lag male authorship for the duration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic may have impeded progress in reducing gender disparities in academic cardiology publications. The low proportions of first and senior female authors may reflect the impact of the pandemic on women in cardiology in leadership domains.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cardiology; Gender disparities; SARS-CoV-2; Scientific publishing; Women.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Proportion of male and female authors in any authorship position in COVID-19-related articles published in the top 20 impact cardiology journals between March 1 and June 13, 2021
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Proportion of male and female authors in first author position (A) and in senior author position (B) in COVID-19-related articles published in the top 20 impact cardiology journals between March 1 and June 13, 2021
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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